. 


Vhere  You  Get  Off 


BY 


JOHN   M.  WORK 

AUTHOR    OF 

WHAT'S  SO  AND    WHAT  ISN'T 


PRICE  TEN  CENTS 


Published  by 

THE   SOCIALIST    PARTY 

111  NORTH  MARKET  ST. 

CHICAGO 


Where  You  Get  Off 


BY 

JOHN  M.  WORK 

AUTHOR    OF 

WHAT'S  SO  AND    WHAT  ISN'T 


Published  by 

THE   SOCIALIST    PARTY 

111  NORTH  MARKET  ST. 

CHICAGO 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Page 

I.     How  You  Work 3 

II.     What  You  Get 10 

III.  What  You  Want 16 

IV.  How  You  Can  Get  It 22 

V.     Where  You  Get  On..  .39 


WHERE  YOU   GET  OFF 


CHAPTER     I . 

HOW  YOU  WORK 

How  do  you  do,  Average  American  Workingman! 

Your  actions  show  that  you  don't  know  where  you  get  off. 

So,  prick  up  your  ears  and  give  heed,  for  I'm  going  to 
tell  you. 

I  shall  also  tell  you  where  you  get  on. 

First  of  all,  I  want  you  to  realize  the  situation  as  it  is. 

There  are  many  people  who  imagine  that  things  must  be  thus 
and  so,  just  because  they  have  been  that  way. 

But  that  is  a  mistake. 

There  are  also  many  people  who  subscribe  to  the  theory,  sug- 
gested by  Shakespeare's  Hamlet  in  his  famous  soliloquy,  that 
it  is  better  to  bear  those  ills  we  have  than  fly  to  others  that  we 
know  not  of. 

Kindly  remember  that  Hamlet  was  damaged  in  his  upper 
story.  And  even  he  did  not  advocate  this  theory,  but  merely 
suggested  it. 

Those  who  subscribe  to  this  theory  are  cursed  with  lurid 
imaginations.  They  conjure  up  all  kinds  of  unreal  ills  which 
they  imagine  they  would  incur  if  they  attempted  to  remedy  the 
ills  by  which  they  are  now  surrounded. 

But  the  sensible  thing  to  do  is  to  abolish  the  evils. 

LOOKING    FOR    A  JOB 

One  of  the  most  debasing  evils  now  existing  is  the  fact 
that  when  a  workingman  wants  a  job  he  has  to  ask  a  capitalist, 
or  the  representative  of  a  capitalist,  for  it. 

2091484 


4  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

In  the  words  of  Robert  Burns: 

"See  yonder  poor,  o'erlabored  wight, 

So  abject,  mean  and  vile, 
Who  begs  a  brother  of  the  earth 

To  give  him  leave  to  toil ; 
And  see  his  lordly  fellow-worm 

The  poor  petition  spurn, 
Unmindful  though  a  weeping  wife 

And  helpless  offspring  mourn. 

"If  I'm  design'd  yon  lordling's  slave — 

By  nature's  law  design'd — 
Why  was  an  independent  wish 

E'er  planted  in  my  mind  ? 
If  not,  why  am  I  subject  to 

His  cruelty  or  scorn  ? 
Or  why  has  man  the  will  and  power 

To  make  his  fellow  mourn  ?" 

The  right  to  work  should  be  inalienable. 
William  Morris,  the  great  English  artistic  and  literary  genius, 
has  put  in  beautiful  language  both  the  right  to  work  and  the 
right  to  the  right  kind  of  work: 

"I  have  looked  at  this  claim  in  the  light  of  history  and  by 
my  own  conscience,  and  it  seems  to  me  so  looked  at  to  be  a  most 
just  claim,  and  that  resistance  to  it  means  nothing  short  of  a  de- 
nial of  the  hope  of  civilization. 
"This,  then,  is  the  claim: 

"It  is  right  and  necessary  that  all  men  should  have 
work  to  do  which  shall  be  worth  doing,  and  be  of  itself 
pleasant  to  do;  and  which  should  be  done  under  such 
conditions  as  would  make  it  neither  over-wearisome  nor 
over-anxious. 

"Turn  that  claim  about  as  I  may,  think  of  it  as  long 
as  I  can,  I  cannot  find  that  it  is  an  exorbitant  claim ;  yet 
again  I  say  if  society  would  or  could  admit  it,  the  face 
of  the  world  would  be  changed;  discontent  and  strife 
and  dishonesty  would  be  ended.  To  feel  that  we  were 
doing  work  useful  to  others  and  pleasant  to  ourselves, 
and  that  such  work  and  its  due  reward  could  not  fail 
us!  What  serious  harm  could  happen  to  us  then?" 


WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF  5 

Does  that  claim  seem  like  a  dreamy  impossibility  to  you? 

It  is  not. 

It  is  entirely  feasible. 

But  it  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  present  condition. 

It  is  in  striking  contrast  to  the  present  condition  both 
in  the  manner  of  securing  the  work  and  in  the  manner  of  doing  it. 

He  says  we  have  the  right  to  this  kind  of  work. 

But  if  we  have  any  right  to  any  kind  of  work  at  the  present 
time,  that  right  is  in  abeyance.  It  has  degenerated  into  a  right 
to  ask  a  capitalist  for  a  job.-  We  no  longer  have  the  right  to 
work.  We  have  only  the  right  to  work  if  a  capitalist  sees  fit  to 
permit  us  to  do  so. 

To  every  self-respecting  man  and  woman,  it  is  humiliating 
to  ask  another  person  for  a  chance  to  earn  a  living.  It  is  humil- 
iating to  be  dependent  upon  another  for  an  opportunity  to  stay  on 
the  face  of  the  earth. 

It  pierces  one's  self-respect. 

It  plunges  the  iron  into  one's  soul. 

THE    FACTORY  JOB 

Having  meekly  and  with  due  mortification  humiliated  your- 
self before  a  capitalist  or  his  representative  and  secured  a  job, 
what  then? 

'The  conditions  under  which  you  work  are  the  opposite  of 
those  advocated  by  William  Morris. 

Perhaps  you  work  in  a  factory. 

If  so,  it  is  located  amid  cheerless  surroundings.  If  in  a  large 
city,  it  is  located  amid  noisy,  dusty,  smoky,  gloomy  and  un- 
healthful  surroundings. 

The  building  itself  is  dingy  and  ugly.  In  its  construction, 
cheapness  and  utility  alone  were  taken  into  consideration.  There 
was  no  thought  of  making  it  beautiful.  There  was  not  the  re- 
motest dream  of  making  it  contribute  to  the  joy  of  effort. 

On  the  contrary,  it  is  grimy  and  dirty.  Here  and  there  the 
eye  is  insulted  by  trash  and  accumulated  filth.  Some  parts  of  it 
are  so  dark  and  gloomy  that  artificial  light  has  to  be  used  all  day. 

It  menaces  your  health  every  hour  you  work  in  it. 

Then,  your  hours  of  labor  are  too  long. 

You  get  up  early  in  the  morning,  snatch  a  bite  of  breakfast 
and  hurry  away.  You  do  a  day's  work  in  the  forenoon  and  stop 


6  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

a  little  while  to  eat  your  lunch.  You  do  another  day's  work  in 
the  afternoon  and  go  home  exhausted.  The  next  day  you  get  up 
early  and  go  through  the  same  round  again. 

The  work  itself  is  monotonous.  It  is  a  grind.  Often  it  is 
not  worth  doing.  Often  it  is  not  pleasant  in  itself.  When  it  is 
worth  doing  and  pleasant  in  itself,  it  is  spoiled  by  the  over- 
wearisome  and  over-anxious  conditions  and  the  unpleasant  sur- 
roundings. 

Often  the  work  is  dangerous.  No  safeguards  are  installed 
unless  the  law  requires  them  or  the  union  is  strong  enough 
to  compel  them,  and  even  then  they  are  skimped.  The  owners 
want  as  large  profits  as  possible.  So  they  spend  as  little  as 
possible  for  safeguards,  just  as  they  spend  as  little  as  possible 
for  attractive  and  pleasant  surroundings.  The  result  is  frequent 
death  by  whirling  machinery  and  in  other  ways.  Lesser  acci- 
dents also,  due  to  poor  equipment,  overwork  and  lack  of  safe- 
guards, are  a  regular  thing.  Hordes  of  workers  are  more  or  less 
crippled  for  life  by  them. 

THE   RAILROAD   JOB 

Perhaps  you  are  one  of  the  million  and  a  half  or  so  who 
work  on  and  for  the  railroads. 

The  railroad  workers  are  mercilessly  overworked.  Their 
hours  of  labor  are  almost  unbelievably  long.  At  the  same  time 
their  work  is  most  exacting  and  responsible.  Myriads  of  human 
lives  depend  upon  their  doing  it  right. 

They  are  compelled  to  run  unnecessary  risk  of  being  killed 
or  injured.  Of  course,  some  casualties  are  unavoidable.  But  the 
average  killing  of  a  railroad  worker  is  not  an  accident  at  all. 

It  is  cold-blooded  murder. 

It  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  railroad  magnates  want  more 
profits.  In  order  to  get  more  profits,  they  deliberately  overwork 
the  men.  Overwork  results  in  exhaustion.  Exhaustion  invites 
disaster. 

The  railroad  magnates  also  deliberately  use  the  income  for 
dividends  and  salaries  instead  of  using  it  to  properly  equip  the 
roads.  The  roadbeds  are  inferior.  The  rolling  stock  is  inferior. 
They  do  not  have  sufficient  double  tracks.  They  do  not  have 
sufficient  safeguards.  Accidents  and  disasters  are  the  necessary 
result. 


WHERE   YOU   GET   OFF  7 

Working  on   the   railroad   is   more   dangerous   than  going 

to  war. 

THE   MINING   JOB 

Perhaps  you  are  one  of  the  multitude  who  work  in  the  mines. 

Of  all  the  God-forsaken  places  on  earth,  the  mining  camps 
are  a  little  the  worst. 

While  on  top,  the  miners  do  have  some  fresh  air,  but  other- 
wise their  places  of  abode  are  as  undesirable  as  the  slums  of  the 
cities.  And  even  the  fresh  air  is  lacking  when  they  are  in  the 
mines. 

The  conditions  under  which  they  work  are  indeed  far-  re- 
moved from  those  advocated  by  William  Morris. 

Crouching  in  the  dark,  damp,  dismal,  ugly,  artificial  caverns, 
their  work  is  anything  but  pleasant. 

And  every  miner  takes  his  life  in  his  hand  when  he  goes 
to  work. 

It  is  a  regular  thing  to  fetch  out  a  crushed  body,  to  listen  to 
the  moans  of  women,  and  to  see  the  white  faces  of  those  who 
expect  the  same  fate  to  come  to  them  or  theirs  sooner  or  later. 

Every  now  and  then  a  great  'disaster,  due  to  lack  of  safe- 
guards and  lack  of  proper  equipment,  occurs.  Scores  and  some- 
times hundreds  of  men  are  buried  alive  or  suffocated.  The  world 
gasps  with  horror  and  passes  on.  The  capitalists  pocket  the 
profits,  which,  if  used  to  make  the  work  safe,  would  have  pre- 
vented the  catastrophe. 

THE    STORE  JOB 

Perhaps  you  are  one  of  the  host  who  work  in  the  stores. 

In  the  matter  of  bodily  peril,  it  is  not  so  bad  as  going  to  war. 

In  other  respects,  it  is  mighty  near  as  bad. 

The  clerks  are  as  badly  overworked  as  the  railroad  workers, 
and  as  badly  underpaid  as  the  unskilled  laborers. 

Their  work  is  of  a  character  which  requires  neatness  of 
appearance  on  a  starvation  wage. 

Their  work  is  susceptible  of  being  made  very  pleasant  indeed. 
But  it  is  now  carried  on  under  the  most  irritating  and  nerve- 
racking  conditions. 

Instead  of  having  the  pleasure  of  ministering  to  other  peo- 
ple's wants,  they  have  to  try  to  sell  them  things  whether  they 
want  them  or  not.  And  they  have  to  do  this  for  an  unconscion- 
ably long  time  each  day. 


8  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

They  are  compelled  to  sell  things  which  are  inferior,  cheap 
and  shoddy. 

It  is  impossible  to  find  joy  in  handling  such  goods. 

THE    OFFICE   JOB 

Perhaps  you  are  one  of  the  myriad  who  work  in  the  offices. 

If  so,  you  are  more  fortunate  as  to  your  hours  of  labor,  but 
your  pay  is  about  equal  to  that  of  an  unskilled  laborer. 

Your  work  could  be  made  exceedingly  attractive. 

The  great  difficulty  at  present,  aside  from  the  slight  wage,  is 
that  the  work  is  not  worth  doing.  The  bulk  of  the  office  work 
is  concerned  with  things  which  are  socially  useless  and  worth- 
less. Not  all  of  it,  but  most  of  it. 

Most  of  it  is  concerned  with  the  banking  business,  and  with 
the  law  business,  and  with  the  loan  business,  and  with  the  real 
estate  business,  and  with  the  advertising  business,  and  with  the 
stock  exchange  business,  and  with  the  board  of  trade  business, 
and  with  the  patent  medicine  business,  and  with  the  mail  order 
business,  and  with  other  worse  than  useless  things  too  numerous 
to  mention. 

One  would  be  doing  just  as  much  toward  the  progress  of 
humanity  if  he  earned  his  living  by  making  holes  in  the  water 
with  his  fingers. 

In  fact,  it  would  be  better,  for  most  of  the  office  businesses 
not  only  do  not  enhance  the  progress  of  the  race,  but  they 
retard  it. 

So  the  work  of  the  average  office  worker  is  intrinsically 
worthless. 

But  he  does  plenty  of  it. 

THE   FARMING   JOB 

Perhaps  you  are  a  horny-fisted  son  of  the  soil. 

You  may  or  may  not  have  a  boss  over  you.  Maybe  you  are 
working  on  your  own  hook. 

No  matter  whether  you  are  working  for  yourself  or  not,  you 
get  up  at  daybreak.  You  milk  the  cows  and  do  the  chores 
before  breakfast.  You  work  in  the  field  until  sunset.  Then  you 
milk  the  cows  and  do  the  chores  again.  When  you  get  through 
with  your  work,  it  is  deep  night,  the  stars  are  out  in  all  their 
glory,  and  the  dewy  grass  is  atune  with  the  concert  of  the 
insects. 


WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF  V 

When  you  buy  the  things  you  need,  you  are  plucked.  Your 
real  income  is  therefore  little  if  any  more  than  that  of  the  aver- 
age wage-earner.  « 

You  are  not  able  to  afford  the  best  machinery.  You  get 
along  with  the  old  machines  just  as  long  as  possible.  You  are 
compelled  to  overwork  yourself  and  your  family  and  your  horses 
in  order  to  make  a  living. 

Your  work  is  such  that  it  would  be  ideal  if  it  could  be 
performed  under  good  conditions. 

It  is  decidedly  worth  doing. 

But  it  is  now  done  under  isolated,  irritating  and  over- 
wearisome  conditions. 

There  is  much  in  this  book  that  does  not  apply  directly  to 
you.  But,  let  me  tell  you  something:  Most  of  it  applies  to  you 
in  an  analogous  sense.  Use  your  gray  matter  and  you  will  dis- 
cover that  this  is  true.  When  it  applies,  take  it  home  to  yourself. 
When  it  does  not,  give  heed  to  it  anyhow,  because  you  need  to 
understand  the  condition  of  your  brother,  the  wage-worker,  so 
that  you  can  sympathize  with  him  and  fight  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  him  in  the  great  political  struggle  for  your  common  eman- 
cipation. 

When  I  get  time,  I  expect  to  write  a  book  especially  for  you. 
Then  I'll  tell  you  where  you  get  off,  all  right. 

THE    MISCELLANEOUS   JOB 

Or,  perhaps  you  work  in  one  of  the  numerous  other  lines — 
the  great  building  trades,  printing,  teaching,  journalism,  unskilled 
labor,  etc.,  etc. 

If  so,  you  need  to  know  how  the  other  fellow  works,  and 
I  trust  that  you  have  soaked  it  in. 

I  trust  also  that  you  have  soaked  in  the  parts  which  apply  to 
your  particular  occupation,  for  a  great  deal  of  it  does. 

There  are  only  a  very  few  people  nowadays  who  are  so  for- 
tunate as  to  work  under  the  conditions  advocated  by  William 
Morris. 

Practically  all  wage-workers  of  every  kind  are  barred  out 
from  those  conditions.  The  conditions  under  which  they  work 
are  many  and  varied,  but  almost  all  of  them  fall  distressingly 
short  of  the  very  reasonable  standard  which  he  set  up. 

My  message  is  to  the  many  millions  who  are  working  under 
conditions  that  fall  short  of  that  standard. 


10  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

CHAPTER    II. 


WHAT  YOU  GET 

The  conditions  under  which  you  work  are  vivid  in  your 
every-day  experience.  If  their  commonplaceness  had  a  tendency 
to  make  you  look  upon  them  as  matters  of  course,  I  trust  that 
that  attitude  of  mind  has  been  dispelled  by  the  brief  portrayal 
of  them  as  they  are,  which  I  have  given  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

YOUR   WAGES 

As  if  it  were  not  sufficient  to  work  under  such  conditions, 
you  suffer  the  further  handicap  of  being  deprived  of  most  of 
your  earnings. 

Perhaps  it  might  be  deemed  tolerable,  at  least  temporarily, 
to  work  under  mind-damaging  and  body-damaging  conditions,  if 
you  received  ample  compensation,  so  that  you  could  surround 
yourself  with  desirable  conditions  outside  your  work,  and  take 
good  long  vacations,  and  thus  recuperate  from  the  effects. 

Do  you  receive  such  compensation? 

Quite  the  opposite. 

You  receive  only  a  fraction  of  what  you  earn. 

You  are  exploited  out  of  the  rest  of  it  by  the  capitalists 
who  own  the  industries. 

All  one  need  do  in  order  to  discover  that  the  capitalists 
exploit  the  workers  out  of  most  of  the  value  of  their  labor  is  to 
look  about  him  and  compare  the  condition  of  the  workers  with 
that  of  the  capitalists. 

The  workers,  mental  and  manual,  do  all  the  useful  work. 

The  capitalists,  as  such,  do  nothing  useful. 

Yet,  the  workers  are  poor  and  the  capitalists  are  rich. 

Do  the  capitalists  not  have  their  mansions,  and  their  motor 
cars,  and  their  yachts,  and  their  summer  homes,  and  their  lavish 
functions,  etc.,  etc.? 

Where  do  they  get  them,  or  the  money  to  pay  for  them? 

Where  could  they  get  it  except  from  the  workers? 

This  demonstrates  that  the  capitalists  exploit  the  workers. 
Any  intelligent  person  can  see  it  by  simply  looking  around  him. 

There  is  no  way  in  which  we  can  arrive  at  the  exact  degree 
of  this  exploitation  of  the  working  class  by  the  capitalist  class. 


WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF  11 

Various  figures  have  been  stated  by  various  people,  some  of 
which  are  entirely  inaccurate,  not  taking  all  of  the  factors  into 
consideration. 

The  Socialist  Campaign  Book,  which  was  compiled  with 
great  care,  arrives  at  the  conclusion  that  the  wage-worker  receives 
about  forty  per  cent  of  his  earnings,  based  upon  the  present  con- 
ditions of  labor,  wherein  his  earnings  are  small  compared  with 
what  they  would  be  under  systematized  industry.  According  to 
this  estimate,  he  is  therefore  exploited  out  of  about  sixty  per 
cent.  These  conclusions  are  based  upon  a  careful  study  of  the 
census  returns.  They  are  undoubtedly  quite  conservative. 

It  is  easy  to  see,  therefore,  that  the  working  class,  yourself 
included,  is  being  exploited  out  of  most  of  its  earnings.  And  it 
it  also  being  prevented  from  increasing  its  earnings  by  systema- 
tizing the  industries. 

How  do  you  like  it? 

If  you  don't  like  it,  you  will  find  out  before  you  finish  this 
book  just  how  this  condition  can  be  abolished,  and  how  those  who 
do  the  necessary  and  useful  mental  and  manual  work  can  secure 
the  full  value  of  their  labor.  Also  how  they  can  decrease  the 
amount  of  their  labor  and  at  the  same  time  increase  its  value. 

WHAT  WILL  YOUR  WAGES  BUY? 

It  ought  to  be  enough  for  capitalism  to  compel  you  to  work 
under  unnecessarily  bad  conditions  and  to  rob  you  of  most  of 
the  value  of  your  labor.  Surely,  it  ought  to  let  you  off  with 
those  blighting  tragedies. 

But  capitalism  is  not  sympathetic.  There  is  no  limit  to  its 
greed. 

Capitalism  is  cruel. 

Capitalism  is  drastic. 

Capitalism  is  relentless. 

Capitalism  is  merciless. 

Capitalism  exacts  the  pound  of  flesh. 

Capitalism  pursues  its  victims  unceasingly. 

Capitalism  lashes  them  at  every  step. 

Having  received  your  miserable  pittance  for  your  unneces- 
sarily long  hours  of  labor  under  unnecessarily  bad  conditions, 
you  are  then  up  against  the  problem  of  trying  to  make  it  buy  a 
sufficient  quantity  and  quality  of  things  to  afford  at  least  a  sem- 


12  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

blance  of  decency  and  comfort  and  mental  and  physical  de- 
velopment. 

There  are  five  things  which  you  try  to  buy  with  your  income. 
They  are  these: 

Food.        Clothing.       Shelter.  Recreation.        Culture. 

ARE  YOU  SATISFIED  WITH  YOUR  FOOD? 

You  spend  a  large  portion  of  your  wages  for  food. 

Yet,  what  a  woefully  little  bit  of  food  you  get  for  your 
money ! 

And  of  what  a  woefully  poor  quality!  The  poorest  grades 
of  food  are  sold  to  the  working  class.  And  then  a  great  deal  of 
it  is  adulterated. 

The  adulteration  of  food  has  become  a  regular  and  cus- 
tomary thing  under  capitalism. 

There  are  some  articles  of  food  which  in  the  nature .  of 
things  cannot  be  adulterated — such  as  raw  fruit,  potatoes  and 
nuts,  as  they  come  from  the  tree,  vine  or  bush.  But,  nothing 
daunted,  the  pirates  of  trade,  in  lieu  of  adulteration,  use  decep- 
tion. They  put  the  best  on  top,  deliver  an  inferior  quality,  and 
other  tricks. 

There  are  other  articles  of  food  which  are  so  cheap  that 
nothing  cheaper  can  be  found  with  which  to  adulterate  them. 
These  are  often  used  for  the  purpose  of  adulterating  higher- 
priced  foods. 

So  extensive  are  the  food  adulteration  frauds  that  one  would 
have  to  devote  a  book  entirely  to  the  subject  in  order  to  go  into 
it  with  any  thoroughness.  Harvey  W.  Wiley,  the  noted  expert 
on  the  subject,  did  that  very  thing.  His  book  is  a  big  fat  volume 
entitled  "Foods  and  Their  Adulterations."  It  is  true  to  its  name 
in  that  it  discusses  foods  as  well  as  their  adulterations.  It  takes 
up  practically  all  the  different  kinds  of  foods — meats,  meat  prod- 
ucts, poultry,  eggs,  game  birds,  fish  foods,  milk,  butter,  other 
dairy  products,  oleomargarine,  cereals,  vegetables,  fruits,  condi- 
ments, vegetable  oils  and  fats,  nuts,  sugar,  syrups,  confectionery, 
honey,  etc.  It  explains  the  composition  and  value,  or  lack  of 
value,  of  the  many  species  of  these  foods.  And  it  tells  just  how 
scores  and  scores  of  them  are  adulterated,  imitated,  colored,  sub- 
stituted, or  debased. 

In  buying  canned  food,  one  takes  his  life  in  his  hand,  for 
the  preservatives  may  be  the  death  of  him. 


WHERE    YOU    GET    OFF  13 

Of  course,  the  exact  extent  of  the  adulteration  of  food  can- 
not be  ascertained.  The  amount  of  money  paid  out  by  the 
people  of  the  United  States  for  fraudulent  food  has  been  vari- 
ously estimated.  It  is  quite  safe  to  say  that  it  is  not  less  than 
five  hundred  million  dollars  per  year. 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  this,  you  are  compelled  to  pur- 
chase food  and  take  your  chances.  You  can't  do  without  it. 
The  poisonous  adulterations  and  preservatives  may  injure  your 
health.  Or  they  may  kill  you.  If  they  are  merely  "harmless," 
they  will  result  in  poor  nourishment,  which  is  in  fact  not  harm- 
less, but  decidedly  harmful.  But  you  have  to  buy  them  because 
you  can't  help  yourself.  And  you  have  to  part  with  a  fright- 
fully big  percentage  of  your  wages  in  order  to  pay  for  this  un- 
satisfactory food. 

The  hearse  is  taking  the  bodies  of  men,  women  and  children 
to  the  cemetery  every  day  because  of  this  food  adulteration. 

How  do  you  like  it? 

If  you  don't  like  it,  be  of  good  courage,  for  you  will  find 
the  remedy  before  you  finish  this  book. 

ARE  YOU  SATISFIED  WITH  YOUR  CLOTHING? 

When  you  turn  your  attention  to  the  purchase  of  clothing, 
you  do  not  fare  any  better. 

Here,  again,  you  find  the  prices  high  and  the  quality  poor. 

The  market  is  flooded  with  shoddy  goods  and  with  goods 
that  are  cheapened  in  every  way  possible  so  as  to  make  an  enor- 
mous profit. 

The  slight  amount  of  money  at  your  command  buys  only  the 
poorest  quality.  You  part  with  another  big  fraction  of  your 
income  in  order  to  secure  this  inferior  clothing.  It  is  not  good 
while  it  lasts.  It  does  not  look  well.  And  it  soon  wears  out  and 
has  to  be  replaced,  with  an  additional  drain  upon  your  purse. 

ARE  YOU  SATISFIED  WITH  YOUR  SHELTER? 

When  it  comes  to  shelter,  it  takes  a  cruelly  big  chunk  out 
of  your  income  to  pay  rent. 
And  rent  for  what? 
Why,  rent  for  an  inferior  abode. 
Rent  for  a  place  that  is  not  well  built. 
Rent  for  a  place  where  you  do  not  get  pure  air  to  breathe. 
Rent  for  a  place  where  there  is  not  sufficient  sunlight. 


14  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

Rent  for  a  place  where  it  is  impossible  to  keep  clean. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  is  unsanitary. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  is  too  cold  in  winter  and  too  hot  in 
summer. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  is  noisy. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  was  built  with  a  view  to  making  money, 
not  with  a  view  to  proper  and  comfortable  and  delightful  living 
conditions. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  no  human  being  ought  to  live  in. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  puts  a  premium  on  disease. 

Rent  for  a  place  that  ought  to  be  torn  down,  so  that  no  more 
working  people  will  risk  their  health  and  their  lives  in  it. 

In  the  great  cities,  the  so-called  homes  of  the  working  class 
are  in  the  terrible  tenements.  They  are  cliff-like  structures, 
swarming  with  people,  and  separated  by  precipitous  canyons 
called  streets. 

In  the  smaller  cities,  the  hovels  and  shanties  in  which  the 
workers  live  are  located  on  the  low  and  flat  places  and  on  the 
river  bottoms,  and  along  the  railroads,  where  they  can  hear  the 
sweet  music  of  the  freight  trains  as  they  go  rumbling  and  creak- 
ing and  shrieking  by.  These  houses  are  small  and  cheap  and 
stuffy.  They  are  so  close  together  that  when  a  summer  breeze 
tries  to  weave  around  among  them  it  is  liable  to  get  curvature  of 
the  spine.  These  houses  never  saw  a  modern  convenience.  If 
a  porcelain  bathtub  were  brought  among  them  it  would  create  a 
sensation. 

Anyone  who  sees  an  old  tumble-down  shanty,  or  a  filthy  con- 
gested tenement,  guiltless  of  every  convenience,  can  tell  at  once 
that  it  is  occupied  by  working  people. 

No  need  to  exhibit  the  inmates. 

No  need  of  making  an  affidavit  to  it. 

Nobody  ever  heard  of  a  hovel  or  a  tenement  being  occu- 
pied by  anyone  but  workingmen  and  their  families.  It  would 
be  nonsense  to  go  out  of  one's  way  to  prove  it. 

It  is  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  at  the  present  time  that 
the  useful  members  of  society  live  in. the  worst  places  and 
have  the  worst  of  the  deal  in  everything,  while  the  useless 
members  of  society  live  in  the  best  places  and  have  the  best 
of  the  deal  in  everything".  How  do  you  like  it? 

If  you  don't  like  it,  keep  a  stiff  backbone,  for  you  will 
find  the  way  out  of  this  abominable  condition  before  you  finish 
reading  this  book. 


WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF  15 

THE  HIGHER  THINGS 

When  you  have  parted  with  these  three  big  chunks  of 
your  wages — for  food,  clothing  and  shelter — in  other  words, 
for  the  mere  preparation  for  real  living — what  have  you  left 
for  real  living:  for  recreation  and  culture? 

Practically  nothing. 

Do  you  and  yours  take  a  good  long  vacation  when  it  is 
needed? 

Do  you  travel  throughout  your  own  and  other  countries? 

Do  you  have  the  time  and  the  means  to  develop  your  mind 
and  your  body? 

Do  you  have  the  time  and  the  means  to  avail  yourself  of 
the  advantages  of  the  higher  institutions  of  learning? 

Do  you  have  the  time  to  read  the  books  in  the  public 
library? 

Do  you  have  the  money  to  attend  the  best  lectures  and 
theaters  and  operas? 

Do  you  have  the  means  and  the  opportunity  to  hear  the 
best  musicians  and  to  see  the  best  works  of  art? 

Do  you  have  the  means  to  provide  the  best  musical 
instruments  for  your  so-called  home? 

Do  you  have  the  time  and  the  means  and  the  opportunity 
to  get  out  with  your  family  and  your  friends  and  relax  and 
play? 

Do  you  have  the  time  and  the  opportunity  to  gratify  and 
to  cultivate  your  love  of  the  beautiful? 

Do  you  have  the  time  and  the  opportunity  to  enrich  and 
sweeten  your  spirit,  and  to  love  and  help  your  fellow  men 
and  women? 

No — sadly,  sadly,  be  it  said — you  do  not. 

Only  a  stray  nickel  or  quarter  goes  now  and  then  for  these 
things. 
.    And  yet,  these  are  the  things  that  make  life  worth  living. 

Without  these  things  we  do  not  live  at  all ;  we  only  exist. 

Unless  we  have  the  time  and  the  means  and  the  opportunity 
to  develop  mind  and  body  and  spirit,  we  might  just  as  well 
be  dead,  for  all  the  good  we  are  to  ourselves  or  to  the  world. 

Lacking  these  things,  the  only  way  in  which  one  can  make 
his  life  worth  living  is  by  working  for  a  way  out  of  that 
condition. 

And  this  book  will  tell  you  how  to  do  so. 


WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 


CHAPTER     III 


WHAT  YOU  WANT 

Can't  you  think  of  a  few  things  that  you  would  like  to  have, 
which  are  impossible  now? 

Can't  you  think  of  a  few  things  that  you  would  like  to  do, 
which  are  impossible  now? 

THINK  ON  THESE  THINGS 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  move  into  a  real  home — where  there 
was  room  enough — where  there  was  every  modern  convenience — 
where  there  were  beautiful  things — where  there  were  grass  and 
trees  round  about — and  where  you  would  not  be  ashamed  to  in- 
vite your  friends  to  come  and  see  you? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  be  able  to  send  your  children  to  the 
best  universities? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  read  the  best  books? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  attend  the  best  lectures  and  theaters 
and  operas? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  hear  the  best  musicians  and  see  the 
best  works  of  art? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  develop  yourself,  physically,  mentally, 
morally  and  spiritually? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  the  purest  and  best  food  to  eat? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  genuine  clothes  to  wear? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  have  reasonable  hours  of  labor? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  work  amid  attractive  surroundings? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  take  a  good  long  vacation  now  and 
then? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  be  a  globe-trotter  for  a  little  while? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  stand  on  Pike's  Peak  and  see  the  dawn- 
ing of  the  summer  sun? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  stand  in  front  of  Niagara  and  listen 
to  its  monstrous  roar  and  see  the  rainbow  in  the  spray? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  climb  half  way  to  heaven  on  Washing- 
ton Monument? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  ride  across  the  pathless  ocean  and  visit 
the  scenes  where  the  forefathers  made  history? 


WHERE  YOU   GET   OFF  17 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  go  to  Edinburg,  and  Glasgow,  and 
Dublin,  and  Liverpool,  and  down  to  Stratford-on-Avon,  once  the 
home  of  the  immortal  Shakespeare? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  cross  over  to  gay  Paris,  mother  of 
revolution  ? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  roam  through  Berlin,  home  of  cocky 
emperor  and  sturdy  workingmen? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  witness  the  entrancing  wonders  of  the 
Swiss  Alps? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  wander  over  the  bloody  battlefields 
where  Spartacus  and  his  rebel  army  of  workingmen,  and  their 
hopes  of  liberty,  were  laid  low? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  walk  the  streets  of  Rome  and  remind 
yourself  that  these  were  the  self-same  streets  that  were  once  trod 
by  the  silver-tongued,  intellectual  prostitute,  Cicero,  and  the 
martyred  Gracchus,  and  the  mighty  but  cruel  Caesar  with  his 
legions  ? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  stand  upon  the  Acropolis  at  Athens 
and  reflect  that  this  was  the  life-scene  of  the  wise  Socrates,  and 
Plato,  and  Aristotle,  and  Pericles,  and  that  other  notorious  in- 
tellectual prostitute  of  antiquity,  Demosthenes,  he  of  the  cataract 
of  eloquence? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  journey  to  Jerusalem,  and  Alexan- 
dria, named  after  the  foolish  warrior  who  thought  he  had  con- 
quered the  world? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  ride  up  the  Nile? 

Wouldn't  you  like  to  sail  around  to  India,  and  South  Africa, 

and  Australia,  and  New  Zealand,  and  China,  and  Japan,  and 

Honolulu,   and  come   home  through   the   Golden   Gate  at   San 

.  Francisco  with  your    mind    so    broadened    that    your    friends 

wouldn't  recognize  you? 

Have  I  named  anything  that  you  would  like  to  have,  or  that 
you  would  like  to  do? 

Have  I? 

Well,  I  guess  yes. 

WHAT  I  WANT 

Probably  you  have  not  hitherto  formulated  in  your  own 
mind  the  things  you  want.  You  have  not  formulated  them  be- 
cause there  did  not  seem  to  be  any  possibility  of  ever  attaining 
them. 


18  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

But  I  tell  you  that  they  can  be  attained — and  I  will  show 
you  how  before  you  get  through  reading  this  book. 

And  so  I  will  further  assist  you  in  formulating  your  wants 
by  telling  you  what  I  want. 

I  want  all  those  things  that  I  asked  you  about.  I  need  not 
repeat  them  except  as  it  may  be  necessary  in  elaborating  on  some 
of  them. 

I  want  a  real  home.  A  real  home.  Big  enough  and  not  too 
big.  Built  to  live  in,  not  to  make  profits  out  of.  Beautifully 
finished  outside  and  inside.  Simply  and  beautifully  furnished. 
Quiet,  peaceful,  restful.  A  place  where  flowers  and  trees  and 
grass  and  fresh  air  and  sunlight  abound.  Sunlight  in  every 
room.  A  place  where  love  and  peace  and  joy  are  in  harmony 
with  the  surroundings — where  their  opposites  would  be  unnatural 
and  out  of  place. 

I  agree  with  Charlotte  Perkins  Oilman  that  each  member 
of  the  household  should  have  two  rooms  and  bath.  One  for 
working  or  reading  or  meeting  friends.  One  for  sleeping.  One 
for  keeping  clean.  Nothing  will  do  but  to  have  a  bathroom  to 
one's  self,  opening  off  the  bedroom.  We've  been  trying  to  keep 
clean  for  years  and  years,  and  some  day  we  shall  succeed.  And 
the  bedroom  must  be  capable  of  being  opened  up  so  that  one  can 
sleep  practically  out  of  doors. 

I  may  as  well  make  it  plain  one  time  as  another  that  I  do 
not  want  any  luxuries.  I  want  the  necessities,  and  I  want  the 
comforts,  and  I  want  the  higher  things.  But  I  do  not  want  any 
luxuries,  and  I  do  not  want  anybody  else  to  have  any  luxuries. 
Luxuries  are  harmful.  They  have  done  incalculable  harm  to 
the  capitalists  who  indulge  in  them.  Luxury  is  costliness,  ex- 
pensiveness,  voluptuousness,  the  gratification  of  sensuality.  It 
is  degenerating.  Anyone  who  indulges  in  it,  now  or  hereafter, 
is  doomed  to  be  eliminated  by  the  law  of  the  survival  of  the 
fittest.  Let  that  be  thoroughly  understood.  If  you  have  any 
longing  for  luxury  in  your  heart,  expel  it.  The  simple  life  is  the 
only  life  that  promotes  physical  and  mental  and  moral  and  spir- 
itual health.  It  is  the  only  life  that  lasts.  And  it  is  not  mere 
material  things  that  I  want.  If  I  could  have  the  higher  things 
without  first  having  the  material  things,  I  would  do  so.  But  the 
higher  things  are  based  on  the  material  things,  just  as  the  beau- 
tiful rosebush  is  rooted  in  the  ground.  So,  although  I  do  not 
want  any  elaborate  material  things,  I  must  have  the  material 


WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF  19 

basis  right  before  I  can  have  the  higher  things  which  I  really 
want. 

I  want  to  earn  my  living  at  manual  labor.  Labor  suited  to 
my  particular  quality  of  makeup.  Labor  that  is  worth  while. 
Labor  that  is  pleasant  in  itself.  I  want  to  put  the  joy  of 
effort  into  it.  I  want  to  feel  that  I  am  accomplishing  something. 
I  want  to  do  genuine,  honest,  faithful  work  for  one-half  of  each 
working  day,  forenoon  or  afternoon.  I  want  a  half  holiday 
every  day.  I  want  to  receive  the  full  value  of  my  labor,  less  my 
share  of  the  expense  of  administration.  And  I  want  a  good  long 
vacation  every  now  and  then. 

I  want  to  work  in  a  place  where  it  is  a  gladness  to  work.  A 
place  that  was  built  for  both  utility  and  beauty.  A  healthful 
place.  A  place  where  there  is  fresh  air,  and  sunshine,  and 
flowers,  and  grass,  and'  trees,  and  a  minimum  of  noise.  A  clean 
place.  A  place  where  my  fellow-workers  are  happy.  Where 
we  sing  at  our  work.  Where  we  enjoy  each  other's  joy  of  effort. 
Where  we  can  work  to  the  strains  of  music  if  we  want  to,  and 
if  the  nature  of  the  work  makes  it  possible. 

I  do  not  want  to  be  dependent  upon  a  capitalist  or  a  group 
of  capitalists  for  an  opportunity  to  earn  a  living.  I  am  a  hu- 
man being.  I  was  born  into  the  world  on  an  equality  with  all 
other  human  beings.  I  want  my  equality  of  rights  recognized. 
I  have  a  right  to  equal  opportunities.  I  have  a  right  to  a  guar- 
anteed job.  I  want  it  to  be  a  matter  of  course  that  I  am  guar- 
anteed the  right  to  earn  my  living  at  work  for  which  I  am  suited, 
and  to  receive  my  full  earnings  less  my  proportion  of  the  ex- 
pense. Then  I  will  not  have  to  humiliate  myself  in  order  to  get 
a  job.  And  I  won't  have  to  worry  lest  I  lose  my  job.  And  I 
won't  be  eternally  cramped  for  lack  of  money.  When  I  get 
through  with  my  half-day  of  joyous  work,  I  can  turn  to  other 
things  with  a  mind  free  from  worry,  free  from  irritation,  open 
and  ready  for  all  good  things. 

I  want  everybody  else  to  have  the  things  that  I  want. 

I  want  a  chance  to  enjoy  the  company  of  my  friends.  I 
want  to  love  them  and  help  them  in  any  way  that  lies  in  my 
power.  Not  that  they  will  need  my  assistance.  If  they  did,  it 
would  be  humiliating  to  them.  That  is,  assistance  in  the  ordi- 
nary sense.  But  we  shall  all  need  each  other's  assistance  in  the 
higher  ways.  They  will  seize  every  opportunity  to  be  of  service 
to  me,  and  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  me  to  do  likewise  with  them. 


20  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

I  want  to  feel  the  sympathy  of  hearts  that  are  kind  and  true  and 
pure  and  trustworthy. 

I  want  my  friends  to  conspire  with  me  in  living  the  simple 
life.  I  want  to  surround  ourselves  with  simple  beauty.  To 
live  frugally.  To'  play  games  of  hand  and  brain.  To  breast  the 
waves  with  sinew  and  with  oar.  To  walk  far  into  the  forest,  near 
to  nature's  heart.  To  consider  the  deep  things  of  life.  To  con- 
sider the  light  things  of  life.  To  make  life  a  joy  to  each  other. 

I  want  to  get  the  public  library  catalog  and  run  down  the 
list  of  books.  I  am  so  grievously  ignorant.  I  want  to  make  out 
a  list  of  books  that  will  be  helpful  to  me.  Then  I  want  to  get 
them  out  one  by  one  and  gloat  over  them  and  devour  them  with 
an  appetite  born  of  the  yearning  to  know  the  great  truths  that 
have  been  written  by  the  great  thinkers.  I  hunger  and  thirst  for 
the  opportunity  to  do  this. 

I  want  to  go  to  school.  If  I  ever  get  too  old  to  learn,  will 
someone  kindly  knock  me  in  the  head.  But  I  shall  never  get 
too  old  to  learn.  I  want  to  study  literature  and  science.  I  do 
want  to  get  rid  of  some  of  my  ignorance.  When  people  talk 
about  the  Irish  constellation,  Orion,  I  want  to  be  able  to  locate  it 
in  the  heavens.  Perhaps  you  will  say  that  it  is  hopeless  to 
try  to  locate  anything  Irish  in  the  heavens.  But  that's  where 
you  have  another  guess  coming.  I  want  to  know  the  meaning 
of  all  those  long  names  of  sciences.  I  not  only  want  to  know 
the  meaning,  but  I  want  to  know  something  about  the  sciences 
themselves.  I  want  to  know  at  least  enough  about  them  to 
gather  from  them  whatever  aid  they  can  furnish  in  estimating 
the  present  and  the  future  and  helping  me  to  make  myself  useful 
in  the  world.  And  there  are  many  other  things  that  I  want  to 
study.  They  are  too  numerous  to  mention. 

I  want  to  travel.  Not  all  the  time — for  I  want  to  enjoy 
my  home  and  my  friends.  But  I  want  to  take  some  of  my 
friends  along  and  see  the  world.  Some  people  talk  about  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  the  Louvre,  and  the  Vatican,  and  the 
Sphinx,  just  like  they  had  to  pass  them  every  morning  on  their 
way  to  work.  I  want  to  see  them,  too.  And  I  want  to  see  my 
brothers  and  sisters  everywhere  around  the  globe.  I  want  to 
talk  with  them.  I  want  to  know  their  problems.  I  want  to 
help  them  to  solve  their  problems  if  I  can.  I  want  to  get  their 
point  of  view.  I  want  to  learn  from  them. 


WHERE    YOU    GET    OFF  21 

I  want  to  cultivate  the  love  of  the  beautiful.  It  has  not  had 
a  fair  chance.  It  has  starved  and  starved  and  starved.  I  want 
to  really  know  and  appreciate  literature,  and  music,  and  paint- 
ing, and  sculpture,  and  all  the  fine  arts.  I  want  to  give  my  soul 
a  chance  to  unfold. 

I  want  to  make  my  life  worth  living.  I  want  to  develop 
myself,  physically,  mentally,  morally  and  spiritually.  I  want  my 
friends  to  join  me  in  consciously  and  deliberately  developing  our- 
selves in  all  these  respects.  I  want  us  to  sustain  each  other  in  all 
these  efforts. 

I  want  it  understood  that  life  is  not  worth  living  unless  one 
makes  the  world  better  and  happier  for  his  having  lived. 

I  want  to  be  able  to  so  live  that  when  I  receive  the  sum- 
mons to  join  the  "innumerable  caravan"  I  will  not  go  "like  a 
quarry-slave  at  night,  scourged  to  his  dungeon,"  but  will  ap- 
proach the  grave  serenely 

"Like  one  who  wraps  the  drapery  of  his  couch 
About  him,  and  lies  down  to  pleasant  dreams." 

These  are  a  few  of  the  things  I  want. 


AM  I  RIGHT? 

Have  these  suggestions  helped  you  any  in  formulating  your 
wants  ? 

No  doubt  you  have  wants  which  I  have  not  and  I  have  wants 
which  you  have  not.  These  things  depend  upon  the  makeup  and 
quality  of  the  individual,  as  determined  by  his  heredity  and  envi- 
ronment. If  you  are  of  a  finer  quality  than  I,  you  want  finer 
things  than  I.  If  you  are  of  a  coarser  quality  than  I,  you  do 
not  want  some  of  the  finer  things  that  I  want. 

But,  in  any  event,  I  believe  you  want  most  of  the  things  I 
have  mentioned. 

If  you  are  a  woman,  I  am  sure  you  want  all  the  things  I 
have  named,  and  maybe  more.  Women  always  want  the  good 
things  and  the  beautiful  things.  Not  that  they  never  want  any- 
thing else.  But  they  always  yearn  for  the  good  things  and  the 
beautiful  things.  And  all  women  who  have  awakened  from  the 
age-long  sleep  want  both  political  and  industrial  emancipation. 
They  want  the  right  to  vote.  And  they  want  to  earn  their  own 
living,  instead  of  being  dependent  upon  men. 


22  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

CHAPTER    IV 


HOW   YOU   CAN   GET   IT 

We  have  seen  how  you  work,  what  you  get,  and  what  you 
want. 

We  are  now  ready  to  find  out  how  you  can  get  what  you 
want. 

The  way  to  get  it  is  to  connect  up  with  the  supply. 

CONNECT  UP  WITH  THE  SUPPLY 

In  the  ancient  classic  mythology  there  is  a  story  about  an 
earth-born  giant  named  Antaeus.  The  warm  earth,  Terra,  was 
his  mother.  His  father  was  the  stormy  Neptune,  god  of  the  sea. 

When  he  was  in  touch  with  his  mother,  the  earth,  strength 
and  vitality  flowed  into  him  from  the  earth.  When  he  was  not 
in  contact  with  the  earth,  his  strength  waned. 

One  day  Hercules  happened  along,  swinging  his  club,  fresh 
from  his  exploit  of  holding  the  world  on  his  shoulders  while 
Atlas  got  the  golden  apples  of  the  Hesperides  for  him. 

Envious  Antaeus  was  like  Cassius :  he  could  not  be  at  heart's 
ease  while  he  beheld  a  greater  than  he. 

So  the  two  giants  engaged  in  mortal  combat.  Hercules  was 
the  stronger.  But  he  found  that  every  time  he  felled  Antaeus  to 
the  ground  with  his  club,  the  earth-born  giant  acquired  new 
strength  from  the  earth  and  sprang  to  his  feet  stronger  than  ever. 
To  overcome  this  difficulty,  Hercules  seized  him  by  the  girth, 
swung  him  aloft,  and  held  him  high  in  air.  •  In  this  position, 
Antaeus  no  longer  received  his  accustomed  supply  of  strength 
from  the  earth.  His  strength  therefore  waned.  In  a  short  time 
he  died,  and  Hercules  tossed  his  lubberly  hulk  into  a  neighboring 
valley. 

Modern  man  also  derives  his  strength  and  vitality  from  the 
earth — not  directly  like  Antaeus,  but  indirectly,  through  his  food, 
his  clothing,  his  shelter,  etc. 

He,  too,  is  dependent  upon  the  earth,  upon  the  material 
industries  of  the  earth.  He  is  dependent  upon  them  for  his  very 
life,  and  also  for  the  higher  things,  to  which  material  sus- 
tenance is  a  prerequisite. 


WHERE  YOU   GET   OFF  23 

When  the  Hercules  of  capitalism  comes  along  and  cuts  off 
his  supply  from  the  earth,  he,  too,  is  "up  in  the  air."  His  strength 
wanes.  And  unless  his  connection  with  the  earth  supply  is  re- 
established, he  perishes. 

At  the  present  time  all  the  workers  are  deprived  of  most 
of  the  supply  to  which  they  are  entitled. 

They  are  deprived  of  it  because  the  industries  are  owned 
by  the  capitalists.  The  private  ownership  of  the  industries  en- 
ables the  private  owners — the  capitalists — to  keep  for  themselves 
most  of  the  earnings  of  the  workers.  They  can  do  so,  because 
the  workers  are  dependent  upon  them  for  jobs. 

We  Socialists  say  that  the  industries  shall  be  owned  collec- 
tively by  all  the  people.  Then  the  people  will  employ  themselves 
in  their  own  industries  and  pay  themselves  all  they  earn. 

Their  connection  with  their  full  earth  supply  will  thus  be 
re-established. 

Then  we  shall  no  longer  be  a  physically  and  intellectually 
stunted  race,  but  will  have  a  full  and  free  opportunity  to  make 
the  most  of  life. 

THE  GOLDEN  REMEDY 

Socialism  is  the  golden  remedy  for  all  the  evils  and  limita- 
tions which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  preceding  chapters. 

Socialism  will  make  the  exploiting  industries  collective  prop- 
erty, so  that  they  will  no  longer  be  run  for  the  benefit  of  private 
capitalists,  but  will  be  run  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people. 

Then,  the  men  and  women  who  do  the  necessary  and  useful 
mental  and  manual  work  will  receive  their  full  earnings.  And 
their  full  earnings  will  be  greater  than  they  are  now,  because 
Socialism  will  systematize  the  industries  and  eliminate  waste. 

The  elimination  of  waste  and  the  elimination  of  unneces- 
sary occupations  will  make  it  an  easy  matter  to  greatly  reduce 
the  hours  of  labor,  while  still  increasing  the  earnings.  Every- 
one will  have  useful  and  pleasant  work  to  do,  under  conditions 
neither  over-wearisome  nor  over-anxious. 

The  dream  of  William  Morris  will  come  true. 

There  will  be  no  more  adulterated  food — for  there  will  be 
no  incentive  for  the  collectivity  to  engage  in  adulteration. 
The  reverse  will  be  true.  The  collectivity  will  have  every 
incentive  to  produce  the  best  and  the  purest  of  food.  The 


24  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

people  will  be  the  collectivity  and  they  will  want  the  best  there 
is.  And  food  will  be  sold  at  the  cost  of  production. 

Clothing  will  also  be  the  best  that  can  be  made,  and  it  will 
also  be  sold  at  the  cost  of  production. 

The  best  of  buildings  will  also  be  erected  in  the  healthiest 
locations  to  live  in.  They  will  be  rented  at  the  cost  of  upkeep 
and  depreciation.  Or  you  can  build  your  own  if  -you  want  to. 

So,  the  necessities  will  consume  only  a  small  fraction  of 
your  income. 

You  will  have  the  bulk  of  it  left  for  real  living. 

You  will  have  the  time,  the  means  and  the  opportunity  to 
accomplish  everything  set  forth  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

Furthermore,  you  will  have  the  disposition  to  do  it.  Your 
spirits  will  be  buoyant,  for  you  will  no  longer  be  ill-nourished, 
ill-clothed,  ill-housed,  and  tired. 

THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  SOCIALISM 

Since  so  much  is  claimed  for  Socialism,  you  would  like 
to  know  more  about  it. 

All  right,  here  goes  to  tell  you  more  about  it. 

Clinch  one  thing  in  your  mind  first  of  all. 

It  is  this: 

Socialism  is  not  a  plan  which  the  Socialists  have  invented. 

On  the  contrary,  Socialism  is  a  phase  of  civilization. 

It  is  the  natural  outcome  of  industrial  evolution. 

Let  me  give  you  a  brief  glimpse  of  the  principles  of 
Socialism. 

I  believe  it  is  true  of  many  men  and  women  that  they 
have  read  books  treating  of  the  principles  of  Socialism  in  a 
general  way,  but  did  not  grasp  these  principles  because  they 
were  not  definitely  enumerated  and  explained. 

The  three  main  fundamental  principles  of  Socialism  are 
Surplus  Value,  the  Class  Struggle,  and  Economic  Determinism 
— or  the  Economic  Urge,  as  I  call  it. 

These  names  look  formidable,  but  the  ideas  which  they 
represent  are  not  particularly  difficult  to  understand. 

SURPLUS  VALUE 

Under  the  present  capitalist  system  of  industry — which 
we  often  call  capitalism — the  chief  industries  are  owned  bv 


WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF  25 

capitalists  and  by  combinations  of  capitalists  called  corpora- 
tions or  trusts. 

The  capitalist  class,  because  of  its  ownership  of  the  chief 
industries,  has  the  power  to  exploit  the  working  class  out  of 
most  of  its  earnings. 

We  have  already  seen  that  it  does  so. 

The  working  class  consists  mainly  of  wage-earners  and 
farmers. 

The  wage-earners  are  dependent  upon  the  capitalists  for 
their  jobs.  They  are  dependent  upon  the  capitalists  for  their 
jobs  because  the  capitalists  own  the  industries  in  which  they 
— the  wage  earners — literally  must  work  in  order  to  earn 
a  living. 

Exercising  the  power  which  this  ownership  of  the  indus- 
tries gives  them,  the  capitalists  compel  the  wage  workers  to 
work  for  them  for  a  fraction  of  the  value  of  their  labor. 

They  keep  the  rest  themselves. 

This  surplus,  which  the  capitalists  enjoy  but  do  not  earn,  is 
called  surplus  value. 

The  capitalists  extract  still  more  surplus  value  out  of  the 
workers  by  charging  them  extortionate  prices  for  the  things 
they  buy  and  the  so-called  homes  they  rent. 

The  farmers  are  gouged  right  and  left  by  the  trusts  and 
other  industries.  They  pay  vastly  more  for  the  things  they  buy 
than  it  costs  to  produce  them. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  capitalist  class  extorts  surplus 
value  out  of  both  of  the  great  divisions  of  the  working  class — 
the  wage-earners  and  the  farmers. 

This  theory  of  value  is  substantiated  by  the  fact  that  in  so 
far  as  wealth  is  not  furnished  by  nature,  it  is  created  by  labor 
of  hand  and  brain. 

If  labor  does  not  create  it,  what  does? 

A  few  of  the  capitalists  earn  a  small  portion  of  their  in- 
comes by  doing  mental  labor  in  the  industries.  In  so  far  as  they 
do  this,  they  are  not  capitalists,  but  workers.  But  this  is  only 
true  of  a  few  of  them,  and  even  these  few  earn  only  a  small 
fraction  of  the  incomes  they  draw  from  the  industries. 

Even  their  salaries  are  not  usually  earned. 

And  they  do  not  earn  one  penny  of  the  incomes  which  they 
receive  from  their  ownership  of  stocks,  bonds,  dwellings  and  the 


26  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

necessaries  of  life.    In  other  words,  their  dividends,  interest,  rent 
and  profit  consist  of  surplus  value  filched  from  the  workers. 

THE  CLASS  STRUGGLE 

It  is  impossible  for  the  present  capitalist  system  of  indus- 
try, on  account  of  its  very  nature  and  essence,  to  operate  to  the 
mutual  advantage  of  the  man  who  works  and  the  man  who 
employs. 

This  is  because,  under  this  system,  their  interests  are  directly 
and  necessarily  antagonistic. 

It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  employer  to  have  long  hours  and 
low  wages,  in  order  that  he  may  reap  big  profits.  Also  in  order 
that  he  may  prevent  the  workers  from  developing  themselves  so 
as  to  fight  more  effectively  and  valiantly  for  freedom. 

It  is  to  the  interest  of  the  workers  to  have  short  hours  and 
high  wages,  for  obvious  reasons. 

The  two  classes  therefore  struggle  against  each  other. 

Of  course,  there  are  some  minor  respects  in  which  their  in- 
terests are  identical. 

But  fundamentally  their  interests  are  directly  and  neces- 
sarily antagonistic. 

Anyone  who  expects  them  to  do  otherwise  than  struggle 
against  each  other,  so  long  as  they  remain  in  the  relation  of  em- 
ployer and  employe,  is  a  Utopian  dreamer.  He  does  not  take 
human  nature  into  consideration  at  all. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  they  do  constantly  struggle  against  each 
other. 

The  workers  constantly  struggle  against  the  capitalists  in 
order  to  secure  shorter  hours  of  labor  and  in  order  to  secure  a 
larger  portion  of  the  surplus  value  which  they  earn. 

As  they  become  more  enlightened,  they  struggle  to  secure  the 
whole  of  it. 

The  capitalists,  on  the  other  hand,  constantly  struggle  against 
the  workers,  to  keep  them  from  accomplishing  these  objects,  and 
even  to  diminish  the  portion  of  their  earnings  which  they  already 
receive,  so  that  they  themselves  can  retain  as  great  a  quantity  of 
surplus  value  as  possible  and  enjoy  immense  wealth. 

So  surplus  value  is  the  cause  of  the  class  struggle. 

Strikes  and  lockouts  are  battles  in  the  class  struggle. 

At  the  present  time  the  capitalist  class  has  control  of  the 


WHERE   YOU   GET   OFF  27 

national  and  state  governments,  through  its  political  parties — the 
Republican,  Democratic,  and  Progressive  parties. 

The  capitalists  therefore  make  use  of  these  governments — 
the  army,  the  militia,  the  courts,  etc. — to  help  themselves  in  their 
struggles  against  the  working  class. 

Most  of  the  cities  are  also  under  the  control  of  the  capitalist 
class,  through  its  political  parties — the  Republican,  Democratic, 
and  Progressive  parties — though  an  increasing  number  of  them 
are  coming  under  the  control  of  the  working  class,  through  its 
political  party,  the  Socialist  party. 

In  the  cities  controlled  by  the  capitalist  class,  the  police  and 
the  entire  city  administrations  are  used  for  the  purpose  of  help- 
ing the  capitalists  in  their  struggles  against  the  workers. 

But,  strikes  or  no  strikes,  the  less  exciting  evidences  of  the 
class  struggle  exist  on  every  hand  all  the  time.  All  one  need 
do  is  to  look  about  him  with  open  eyes,  and  he  cannot  help 
seeing  that  society  is  divided  into  two  classes,  and  that  the  in- 
terests of  these  two  classes  are  antagonistic. 

ECONOMIC  DETERMINISM 

Economic  Determinism  is  sometimes  called  the  Economic 
Interpretation  of  History,  and  sometimes  the  Materialistic  Con- 
.ception  of  History,  and  sometimes  Historical  Materialism. 

None  of  these  hard  names  are  strictly  accurate. 

Economic  Determinism  carries  with  it  the  idea  of  economic 
fatalism. 

Economic  Interpretation  of  History  carries  the  idea  that  it 
<  plies  only  to  the  past. 

Materialistic  Conception  of  History  and  Historical  Material- 
ism carry  the  idea  that  it  applies  only  to  the  past,  and  they 
also  carry  the  idea  that  it  is  identical  with  or  a  part  of  the 
philosophy  of  materialism. 

I  therefore  call  it  the  Economic  Urge,  which  I  believe  to  be 
more  nearly  accurate. 

A  knowledge  of  this  principle  throws  a  searchlight  upon 
the  whole  of  history,  upon  the  origin  and  growth  of  institutions, 
upon  the  course  of  current  events,  and  upon  the  character  and 
motives  of  peoples  and  classes. 

I  shall  give  it  substantially  as  it  is  stated  in  the  classic  lit- 
erature of  Socialism. 


23  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

In  every  historical  epoch  the  prevailing  mode  of  economic 
production  and  exchange,  and  the  social  organization  necessarily 
following  from  it,  form  the  basis  upon  which  is  built  up,  and 
from  which  alone  can  be  explained,  the  political  and  intellectual 
history  of  that  epoch. 

Consequently,  the  whole  history  of  mankind,  since  the  dawn 
of  civilization,  has  been  a  history  of  class  struggles,  contests  be- 
tween exploiting  and  exploited  classes. 

These  class  struggles  form  a  series  of  evolution,  in  which 
a  stage  has  now  been  reached  where  the  exploited  class — the 
working  class — cannot  attain  its  emancipation  from  the  domina- 
tion of  the  exploiting  class — the  capitalist  class — without,  at  the 
same  time,  and  once  for  all,  emancipating  society  at  large  from 
all  exploitation,  oppression,  class  distinctions  and  class  struggles. 

Such  is  the  statement  of  this  principle,  substantially  as  given 
in  the  classic  literature  of  Socialism. 

The  first  epoch  of  civilization  was  the  long  period  of  ancient 
chattel  slavery.  The  master  class  owned  everything.  It  ex- 
ploited the  slaves  out  of  most  of  their  earnings.  And,  guided 
by  its  economic  interest,  it  strove  to  maintain  its  economic  posi- 
tion. The  slave  class,  also  guided  by  its  economic  interest,  strug- 
gled to  release  itself  from  the  domination  of  the  master  class. 

By  reason  of  economic  changes,  this  first  epoch  of  civiliza- 
tion gradually  merged  into  the  second  epoch — the  feudal  system 
The  feudal  lord  class  owned  the  means  of  production.  It  ex- 
ploited the  serfs  out  of  most  of  their  earnings.  And,  guided  by 
its  economic  interest,  it  strove  to  maintain  its  economic  position. 
The  serf  class,  also  guided  by  its  economic  interest,  struggled  to 
free  itself  from  the  domination  of  the  feudal  lord  class. 

In  course  of  time,  and  by  reason  of  economic  changes,  the 
trading  class  arose,  and,  driven  by  its  economic  interest,  over- 
threw the  feudal  lord  class,  and  itself  became  the  dominating 
capitalist  class.  In  this  process  the  serf  class  was  emancipated 
from  serfdom.  But  it  only  changed  the  form  of  its  servitude. 
It  reappeared  as  the  modern  working  class.  Thus  the  third,  the 
present,  epoch  of  civilization  was  ushered  in.  The  capitalist 
class  owns  most  of  the  means  of  production  and  distribution. 
It  exploits  the  working  class  out  of  most  of  its  earnings.  And, 
guided  by  its  economic  interest,  it  constantly  strives  to  maintain 
its  economic  position.  The  working  class,  also  guided  by  its  eco- 
nomic interest,  constantly  struggles  to  rid  itself  of  the  domina- 
tion of  the  capitalist  class. 


WHERE   YOU   GET   OFF  29 

THE  OUTCOME 

We  have  analyzed  the  three  fundamental  principles  of  So- 
cialism. 

Now  let  us  synthesize  them — bring  them  together  logically, 
and  note  the  result. 

The  capitalist  class  exploits  the  workers  out  of  most  of  their 
earnings,  because  it  owns  the  industries. 

The  two  classes  struggle  against  each  other  to  secure  the 
product  of  labor — or  the  value  of  that  product. 

The  economic  urge  drives  the  two  classes  on  in  this  struggle. 

An  individual  workingman  is  powerless  against  the  capitalist 
class.  And  the  industries  have  become  so  great  that  an  individ- 
ual workingman  cannot  own  or  operate  them.  They  have  to 
be  operated  by  many  workers  working  together.  Therefore,  the 
only  way  in  which  the  working  class  can  win  the  struggle,  or 
profit  by  it  after  it  is  won,  is  by  acting  together,  shoulder  to 
shoulder,  winning  the  struggle  together,  and  then  owning  and 
operating  the  industries  together. 

The  overwhelming  majority  of  the  people  already  belong 
to  the  working  class.  And  it  is  growing  constantly  in  numbers. 

The  Socialist  party  is  the  political  expression  of  the  work- 
ing class. 

Guided  by  the  economic  interest  of  the  working  class,  the 
Socialist  party,  with  the  co-operation  of  the  union  movement, 
proposes  to  wage  the  class  struggle  at  the  ballot  box  until  it  wins. 

When  it  wins,  it  will  make  the  exploiting  industries  collec- 
tive property  and  run  them  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people. 

It  will  guarantee  every  man  and  woman  an  opportunity  to 
earn  a  living. 

The  men  and  women  who  do  the  necessary  and  useful 
mental  and  manual  work  will  receive  the  full  value  of  their  labor. 
They  will  no  longer  have  to  let  capitalist  parasites  rob  them 
of  surplus  value  in  order  to  get  a  chance  to  work  for  a  sub- 
sistence. 

This  will  remove  the  economic  reason  for  class  division. 

The  class  struggle  will  therefore  cease. 

The  classes  themselves  will  cease  to  exist. 

We  will  become  a  homogeneous  people,  with  all  the  sur- 
roundings that  make  for  happy,  wholesome  lives,  and  with  wide- 
open  avenues  to  all  the  higher  things  of  life. 


30  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

So  the  logical  result  of  the  fundamental  principles  I  have 
outlined  is  Socialism. 

Socialism  will  be  the  outcome  of  industrial  evolution. 


MUTUAL   INTERDEPENDENCE 

I  stated  that  an  individual  workingman  cannot  operate  a 
modern  industry. 

Formerly  this  was  not  the  case.  The  situation  has  been 
changed  by  economic  development. 

People  used  to  be  practically  independent  of  each  other. 
Tools  were  simple.  A  person  could  exist  without  aid  from 
others  and  without  co-operating  with  others. 

But  machinery  has  developed  from  the  simple  hand  tool 
used  by  one  person,  to  the  great  collections  of  labor-saving  ma- 
chines used  by  many  persons. 

Small  industry  has  developed  into  great  industry,  and  great 
aggregations  of  industries. 

These  changes  have  made  people  interdependent  upon  one 
another  for  the  very  elements  of  life. 

We  have  changed  from  separateness  to  socialness. 

But  our  laws  are  based  upon  the  theory  that  we  are  still  liv- 
ing under  the  condition  of  separateness.  They  are  adapted  to 
that  condition.  They  therefore  do  not  fit  our  condition  of  social- 
ness  at  all. 

The  result  is  excruciating  agony. 

Wearing  anything  that  does  not  fit  causes  excruciating 
agony.  Try  wearing  a  pair  of  shoes  several  sizes  too  small  for 
you,  and  see. 

It  is  the  same  with  the  social  body. 

The  laws  do  not  fit.  The  laws  permit  the  capitalists  to 
have  the  private  ownership  of  the  great  industries,  although 
economic  evolution  has  arrived  at  the  point  where  they  should 
be  socially  or  collectively  owned. 

We  must  change  the  laws  to  suit  the  condition  of  socialness 
into  which  we  have  developed. 

Since  we  have  become  mutually  interdependent,  mutually 
intertwined,  we  therefore  need  to  change  the  laws  in  such  a  man- 
ner that  the  industries  on  which  we  are  mutually  dependent  will 
be  mutually  owned  by -all  of  us. 

The  Socialist  party  proposes  to  so  change  the  laws. 


WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF  31 

DON'T  BE    FOOLED 

Remember  that  it  is  decidedly  to  the  financial  interest  of 
the  capitalists  to  try  to  keep  the  laws  essentially  as  they  are  now. 

They  use  every  means  in  their  power  to  try  to  keep  up  the 
delusion  in  people's  minds  that  they,  the  capitalists,  are  necessary 
to  the  continuation  of  the  industrial  process — and  to  keep  up  the 
delusion  that  they,  the  capitalists,  are  entitled  to  the  dividends, 
interest,  rent  and  profit  which  they  receive — and  to  keep  up  the 
delusion  that  the  people  are  prospering  under  the  present  system 
— and  to  keep  up  the  delusion  that  the  capitalist  system  of  in- 
dustry is  the  natural  and  God-given  method  of  carrying  on  the 
affairs  of  the  world. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  a  majority  of  the  people  still  enter- 
tain these  delusions. 

But  more  and  more  of  them  are  getting  these  delusions  ex- 
pelled from  their  minds  as  time  goes  on. 


A   GENTLE   HINT 

One  fine  summer  day  when  I  was  sitting  in  the  park,  deeply 
absorbed  in  a  book,  a  squirrel  came  running  over  the  grass  to- 
ward me. 

With  a  noiseless  leap,  he  landed  on  the  bench  and  came  up 
close.  He  stood  up  on  his  hind  legs,  steadied  himself  with  one 
front  paw  against  my  knee,  and  regarded  me  in  an  inquiring 
manner. 

I  was  expecting  him,  and  had  come  prepared  to  answer  his 
inquiry  in  a  satisfactory  manner.  I  took  a  peanut  from  my 
pocket  and  held  it  in  the  hollow  of  my  hand. 

Down  he  dropped  on  all-fours.  He  shook  his  bushy  tail. 
He  flattened  down  his  front  quarters  in  a  hesitating  way.  Then 
he  summoned  all  his  courage  and  stole  up  and  took  the  prize 
from  my  hand. 

A  little  scamper  took  him  away  again  to  the  safe  distance 
of  a  dozen  inches  or  so.  Standing  on  his  hindlegs,  he  held  the 
peanut  between  his  paws  and  tested  it  in  some  mysterious  way 
with  his  mouth  or  nose.  He  decided  that  it  was  all  right.  He 
poked  it  into  his  mouth,  although  it  was  almost  too  big  to  go  in. 

Another  noiseless  leap  took  him  off  in  the  grass.  A  few 
jumps,  in  his  exquisite  little  humping,  bobbing  way,  landed  him 
at  the  edge  of  the  walk.  There  he  hid  the  peanut  in  the  gravel. 


32  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

He  did  not  set  up  a  stake  or  a  stone  to  mark  the  place.  Yet  I 
have  no  doubt  that  he  found  it  when  he  wanted  it. 

Having  safely  stowed  it  away,  he  came  running  back  to  see 
if  I  had  any  more. 

Sure  enough,  there  was  another,  or  what  looked  like  one, 
in  my  hand.  In  reality  it  was  a  hollow  shell.  It  hurt  my  con- 
science to  play  a  trick  on  him,  but  I  wanted  to  see  what  he 
would  do. 

With  the  same  precautionary  maneuvers  as  before,  he  took 
it  from  my  hand  and  retired  his  safe  dozen  inches  or  so  to  ex- 
amine it. 

No  sooner  had  he  brought  it  to  the  end  of  his  nose  than  he 
shook  his  head  and  dropped  it.  Not  that  I  believe  the  shake  of 
his  head  was  intended  as  a  negative.  No  doubt  it  just  looked 
that  way.  But,  anyhow,  he  shook  his  head  and  dropped  it. 

He  discovered  the  fraud  instantly. 

Would  that  some  human  beings  were  as  ready  with  their 
wits! 

The  delusions  in  regard  to  capitalism  and  the  capitalists 
would  not  last  long. 

For  they  are  just  as  hollow. 

Sometimes  these  delusions  are  put  forward  in  praise  and 
glorification  of  capitalism  and  capitalists. 

Sometimes  they  take  the  form  of  lies  about  Socialism. 

HOW  COULD  WE  GET  ALONG? 

An  Irishman  once  Said  that  half  the  lies  they  tell  about  the 
Irish  are  not  true. 

None  of  the  lies  they  tell  about  Socialism  are  true. 

The  lies  they  tell  about  Socialism  are  very  wonderful,  both 
in  their  stature  and  in  their  variety.  I  wish  to  refer  to  but  one 
of  them  at  present.  It  is  a  huge,  awkward,  massive,  monstrous 
lie.  I  mean  the  one  about  Socialism  being  impractical  because 
we  can't  get  along  without  the  capitalists. 

Designing  opponents  of  Socialism  spring  this  lie  with  malice 
aforethought. 

Others  often  ask  in  all  seriousness,  "Do  we  not  need  the 
capitalists  to  give  us  employment  and  to  manage  the  industries? 
How  would  it  be  possible  to  get  along  without  them?" 

Well,  we  can  get  along  without  the  capitalists  a  good  deal 
like  a  dog  could  get  along  without  fleas. 


WHERE  YOU   GET   OFF  33 

For  the  capitalists  perform  exactly  the  same  function  in 
society.  They  are  leeches.  They  are  parasites.  They  do  noth- 
ing useful.  They  live  off  the  labor  of  others. 

As  a  rule,  the  capitalists  do  not  manage  the  industries  even 
now.  Most  of  the  managing  of  the  industries  is  done  by  hired 
men,  while  the  capitalists  spend  their  time  wasting  the  profits,  or 
in  manipulating  stocks  and  bonds  and  real  estate. 

If  you  were  to  take  a  walk  up  Fifth  avenue  iji  New  York 
and  the  side  streets  that  run  off  of  it,  you  would  see  there  scores 
of  magnificent  palaces,  costing  millions  of  dollars  each. 

The  men  who  own  these  palaces  own  still  other  palaces  at 
Newport  and  in  the  Adirondacks  and  elsewhere. 

The  same  thing  is  true,  in  somewhat  lesser  degree,  of  every 
other  city. 

These  men  are  the  capitalists. 

They  have  the  wealth,  without  having  earned  it. 

The  masses  of  the  people  are  deprived  of  nearly  everything 
worth  while,  because  the  capitalists  have  the  wealth. 

Decidedly,  we  do  not  need  the  capitalists. 

On  the  contrary,  we  need  very  badly  to  get  rid  of  them,  so 
that  the  wealth  will  go  to  those  who  earn  it. 

If  any  of  the  capitalists  do  have  managing  ability,  they 
will  be  sure  of  good  jobs  under  Socialism.  We  have  no  inten- 
tion of  abolishing  their  ability.  We  intend  only  to  abolish  their 
function  as  capitalists — their  function  as  parasites. 

Neither  will  we  need  them  to  give  us  jobs.  For,  when  the 
people  own  the  industries  collectively,  they  will  employ  them- 
selves in  their  own  industries. 

So  explodes  the  first  delusion. 

* 

LEGAL  AND  MORAL  RIGHTS 

The  delusion  that  the  capitalists  are  entitled  to  the  dividends, 
interest,  rent  and  profit  which  they  receive,  dies  hard.  But  it  is 
gradually  fading  out  of  people's  minds. 

As  it  fades  out,  it  is  replaced  by  the  infinitely  higher  con- 
ception that  no  one  is  entitled  to  an  income  in  society  unless  he 
or  she  renders  equivalent  social  service  in  return  for  it. 

The  capitalists,  as  such,  render  no  social  service  whatsoever. 

They  are  parasites  pure  and  simple. 


34  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

No  one  denies  that  most  of  them  have  a  legal  right  to  their 
ill-gotten  gains. 

But  that  is  because  the  laws  are  wrong. 

Legal  rights  and  moral  rights  are  widely  different. 

The  capitalists  have  no  moral  right  whatever  to  their  ill- 
gotten  gains,  because  they  have  rendered  no  social  service  in  re- 
turn for  them. 

ARE  THE  TIMES  PROSPEROUS? 

It  is  not  necessary  to  spend  much  time  on  the  delusion  that 
the  people  are  prospering  under  the  present  system.  We  have 
already  covered  that  point.  The  fact  that  they  lack  all  of  the 
many  things  which  I  have  pointed  out  in  a  previous  chapter  is 
conclusive  proof  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  prosperity  for  the 
masses  of  the  people  under  this  system.  No  one  knows  any 
better  than  we  that  civilization  has  developed  much  that  is  val- 
uable: But  the  present  capitalist  system  being  a  system  which 
gives  the  bulk  of  the  earnings  of  the  many  to  the  few,  it  is  by 
its  very  nature  a  system  which  makes  prosperity  for  the  many 
impossible. 

However,  let  us  take  a  few  flashing  glances  at  the  subject, 
from  different  angles,  to  refresh  our  memories. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  there  is  not  a  single  worker  out 
of  a  job. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  the  charity  organizations  have 
gone  out  of  business. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  there  are  no  tramps. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  child  slavery  has  ceased. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  crime  is  a  rarity. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  suicide  is  seldom  heard  of. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  insanity  is  vanishing. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  drunkenness  is  a  thing  of  the 
past. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  prostitution  is  of  rare  occur- 
rence. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  poverty  has  become  extinct. 

If  the  times  are  prosperous,  all  the  people  have  a  full  and 
free  opportunity  to  develop  themselves  physically,  mentally, 
morally  and  spiritually. 

Now  decide  the  question  in  your  own  mind. 


WHERE   YOU   GET   OFF  35 

INDUSTRIAL    EVOLUTION 

As  for  the  delusion  that  the  present  capitalist  system  of 
industry  is  the  natural  and  God-given  method  of  carrying  on 
the  affairs  of  the  world,  it  would  be  an  insult  to  both  God  and 
nature  to  accuse  them  of  having  such  a  villainous  system  as 
their  ultimate  aim. 

The  truth  is  that  the  capitalist  system  is  itself  a  product  of 
industrial  evolution,  and  that  industrial  evolution,  in  its  con- 
stant progress,  is  developing  society  into  the  Socialist  system. 

A  while  ago  I  briefly  touched  upon  the  three  epochs  of  civil- 
ization— the  chattel  slavery  system,  the  feudal  system,  and  the 
capitalist  system. 

Each  of  these  was  the  product  of  industrial  or  economic 
evolution. 

So  were  the  stages  of  human  progress  which  preceded  civili- 
zation— savagery  and  barbarism. 

Savagery  developed  into  barbarism. 

Barbarism  developed  into  chattel  slavery. 

Chattel  slavery  developed  into  feudalism. 

Feudalism  developed  into  capitalism. 

And  capitalism  is  developing  into  Socialism. 

It  is  true,  of  course,  that  we  have  made  progress  under  cap- 
italism, even  though  it  is  an  atrocious  system.  Give  the  devil  his 
due.  He  certainly  needs  it. 

Savagery  gave  the  human  race  a  necessary  experience,  which 
it  handed  down  by  means  of  the  laws  of  heredity. 

Barbarism  gave  the  human  race  another  necessary  experi- 
ence, which  it  handed  down  in  the  same  manner. 

Chattel  slavery  did  the  same. 

Feudalism  the  same. 

And  capitalism  has  also  given  the  human  race  a  necessary 
experience. 

All  of  these  systems  have  given  the  human  race  experience 
which  was  necessary  in  order  to  develop  it  to  the  point  where 
it  is  ready  for  Socialism  and  can  operate  the  Socialist  common- 
wealth successfully. 

We  have  now  reached  that  point. 

We  are  growing  into  the  Socialist  commonwealth. 

To  complete  this  process,  it  is  necessary  to  remove  capi- 
talism. 


36  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

And  capitalism  is  inevitably  to  be  removed. 

It  carries  within  itself  the  seed  of  its  own  destruction. 

.By  its  very  nature,  it  concentrates  wealth  into  the  hands  of 
a  comparatively  few  and  impoverishes  the  many.  It  goads  the 
many  into  the  necessity  of  expropriating  the  expropriators,  tak- 
ing charge  of  industry  themselves,  and  establishing  the  Socialist 
commonwealth. 

This  concentration  and  this  result  are  so  sure  that  the  So- 
cialists forecast  them  over  half  a  century  ago. 

Capitalism  is  therefore  about  to  be  replaced  by  a  better 
system. 

To  borrow  an  illustration,  capitalism  has  been  the  scaffold- 
ing used  for  the  building  of  a  better  system. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  vermiform  appendix,  the  rudimen- 
tary tail,  the  gill  slits,  and  other  now  useless  parts  of  the  human 
body,  are  merely  remains  of  the  scaffolding  used  in  former  ages 
for  the  purpose  of  building  the  present  human  body. 

Likewise,  capitalism  is  but  a  part  of  the  scaffolding  used  for 
the  building  of  a  better  social  system. 

Many  people  have  mistaken  the  scaffolding  for  the  house 
itself. 

But  the  thing  to  do  is  to  tear  away  the  now  useless  scaffold- 
ing. It  has  served  its  purpose.  We  will  tear  it  away  and  move 
into  the  new  house. 

He  who  would  work  for  progress  must  cast  off  his  ground- 
less prejudices  against  Socialism  and  get  in  line  with  evolution. 

Socialism  is  the  greatest  question  now  before  the  human 
race. 

To  work  for  Socialism  is  the  noblest  thing  a  man  or  woman 
can  do  at  this  stage  of  human  progress. 

The  hour  has  come  when  every  sincere  man  and  woman 
should  lay  trifles  aside  and  enlist  their  services  in  this  mag- 
nificent movement. 

The  question  for  you  to  decide  is  this :  Shall  I  make  a  fruit- 
less effort  to  defeat  progress  by  working  against  Socialism,  or 
'shall  I  ally  myself  with  the  forces  of  progress  by  working  for 
Socialism  ? 

I  know  how  you  will  decide  that  question. 

You  are  not  a  back  number. 

You  are  not  a  quitter. 


WHERE   YOU   GET   OFF  37 

You  want  to  be  numbered  among  the  quick,  not  the  dead. 

The  time  is  ripe. 

The  east  is  gray  with  the  dawn  of  a  better  day. 

You  will  decide  in  favor  of  Socialism. 

FEEBLE   OPPOSITION 

The  incongruous  accusations  which  our  opponents  make 
against  us  are  laughable. 

The  lofty  opponents  of  Socialism  rise  superior  to  all  such 
trifling  things  as  logical  reasoning.  Anything  that  will  pass  for 
an  argument  is  eagerly  welcomed,  no  matter  how  false  or  ridic- 
ulous it  may  be.  With  them,  arguments  are  so  extremely  scarce 
that  the  most  dilapidated  ones  are  bolstered  up  and  stiffened 
with  falsehood  and  pressed  into  service. 

They  make  no  genuine  attempt  to  reply  to  our  granite  blocks 
of  argument. 

Why? 

Because  they  can  not. 

Their  attacks  upon  us  are  amazing  in  their  feebleness. 

They  remind  one  of  a  child  with  a  toy  hammer  pecking  at  a 
boulder. 

Many  of  them  are  gifted  men,  but  even  a  gifted  man  cannot 
successfully  defend  an  indefensible  system. 

They  had  better  come  over  to  Socialism  and  get  on  the  posi- 
tive side.  A  negative  position  is  intolerable. 

Socialism  is  the  truth. 

There  is  nothing  bad  about  it. 

It  is  all  good. 

Consequently,  if  you  read  or  hear  anything  bad  about  it,  you 
can  infallibly  set  it  down  as  a  falsehood.  Socialism  is  the  truth 
and  nothing  but  the  truth.  The  Socialist  writers  and  speakers 
are  on  the  right  side.  Therefore,  even  if  they  were  otherwise 
disposed,  the  way  they  can  do  the  cause  the  most  good  is  by 
telling  the  truth.  Our  crafty  opponents,  on  the  contrary,  are  on 
the  wrong  side.  Therefore,  they  are  compelled  to  either  lie  or 
quit.  They  are  paid  in  proportion  to  their  ability  to  lie  and  de- 
ceive the  peple.  They  never  tire  of  telling  whoppers  about  So- 
cialism. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  answer  their  so-called  objections. 

You  do  not  need  them  answered  in  order  to  convince  you 


38  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

that  Socialism  is  right,  and  that  it  is  decidedly  to  your  interest 
to  work  for  it.  I  have  demonstrated  those  two  propositions. 

But  you  will  want  to  read  up  on  the  alleged  objections  in 
order  to  be  armed  for  the  opponents  of  Socialism  when  you  meet 
them. 

In  my  book,  "What's  So  and  What  Isn't,"  I  have  taken  up 
all  of  the  usual  so-called  objections  to  Socialism  and  answered 
them  in  detail.  It  is  a  corking  good  book.  I  know  because  I 
wrote  it  myself.  Also  because  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand copies  of  it  have  been  sold  and  it  is  still  a  stand-by  and  a 
regular  seller.  You  ought  to  read  it.  You  can  get  it  from  the 
National  Office  of  the  Socialist  Party  for  fifteen  cents  in  paper 
binding,  or  fifty  cents  in  cloth  binding. 


WHERE   YOU   GET  >DFF  39 

CHAPTER    V. 


WHERE    YOU    GET    ON 

We  have  seen  how  you  work,  what  you  get,  what  you  want, 
and  how  you  can  .get  it. 

The  next  thing  in  order  is  to  tell  you  about  the  movement 
with  which  you  need  to  identify  yourself  in  order  to  secure  this 
object. 

HONEST  AND  SINCERE 

You  are  now  convinced  that  Socialism  is  the  truth. 

I  also  believe  that  you  are  honest  and  sincere. 

If  so,  you  should  be  a  member  of  the  Socialist  party.  Not 
merely  a  voter  of  the  ticket,  but  a  member  of  the  organization. 

The  Republican,  Democratic  and  so-called  Progressive 
parties  are  neither  honest  nor  sincere. 

Each  of  them  pretends  to  be  run  in  the  interest  of  the  com- 
mon people. 

And  each  of  them  is  in  fact  run  for  the  benefit  of  the  cap- 
italist parasites,  big  and  little.  Such  concessions  as  they  make 
to  the  working  class  are  made  because  of  the  growing  strength 
of  the  Socialist  party.  Such  concessions  are  not  willingly  made, 
and  do  not  represent  their  real  views.  They  are  simply  scared 
out  of  them  by  the  Socialists. 

In  each  of  those  three  parties  a  public  office  is  a  private 
snap.  Men  seek  the  offices,  instead  of  letting  the  offices  seek 
them. 

These  office-seekers  constitute  one  of  the  most  nauseating 
nuisances  of  the  age.  They  display  the  most  unlimited  gall  and 
shameless  selfishness  in  imposing  themselves  upon  a  long-suffer- 
ing people.  They  make  false  and  hollow  pretenses  of  standing 
for  the  public  good.  The  public  good  is  in  fact  the  least  of  their 
troubles.  Their  object  is  to  secure  the  spoils  of  office  and  to 
feather  their  own  nests.  There  is  no  deception  so  low  that  they 
will  not  stoop  to  it  in  order  to  secure  a  nomination  or  to  fool  the 
people  into  voting  for  them.  They  are  blatant  demagogues. 
They  get  their  campaign  funds  from  the  capitalists.  They  are 
the  political  representatives  of  the  capitalists.  They  talk  mighty 
big  and  do  mighty  little. 

They  are.  not  honest  and  sincere. 


40  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

On  the  other  hand,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Republican, 
Democratic  and  alleged  Progressive  parties  are  for  the  most 
part  honest  and  sincere  men  and  women. 

They  ought  to  vote  with  and  become  members  of  an  honest 
and  sincere  party. 

-  During  the  past  few  years,  thousands  of  men  and  women 
who  have  the  real  good  of  humanity  at  heart  have  been  thinking 
about  public  affairs.  In  the  libraries  the  books  on  civics,  sociol- 
ogy and  economics  have  been  in  constant  demand.  These  people 
have  been  groping — groping  toward  the  light.  Thousands  of 
them  have  found  it.  They  have  come  into  the  Socialist  movement. 

There  is  no  other  place  for  an  honest  and  sincere  person  to 
land,  if  he  or  she  investigates  and  tries  to  find  out  the  truth. 

Millions  of  honest  and  sincere  people  are  still  groping. 
They,  too,  will  find  Socialism  and  adopt  it  in  due  time. 

Sham,  pretense  and  hypocrisy  can  hold  sway  for  a  long  time. 

But  the  truth  always  puts  them  to  rout  in  the  end. 

THE   SOCIALIST  MOVEMENT 

I  suppose  people  who  are  not  Socialists  think  we  are  a 
funny  lot. 

They  see  us  give  up  our  spare  time  to  arrange  and  attend 
meetings. 

They  see  us  run  our  legs  off  to  distribute  literature  by  the 
ton,  and  not  get  a  red  cent  for  the  work,  but  even  pay  for  the 
literature  ourselves. 

They  see  us  deny  ourselves  many  of  the  necessaries  of  life 
in  order  to  furnish  the  funds  to  lay  our  ideas  before  the  people. 

And  so  they  no  doubt  think  we  are  a  funny  lot.  Or,  at 
least,  they  used  to. 

But  of  late  somehow  people  have  begun  to  treat  us  as  if  we 
were  human  beings. 

No  doubt  this  is  because  they  have  at  last  begun  to  suspect 
that  we  are  not  crazy,  after  all,  but  that  there  is  something  in 
what  we  say. 

Anyhow,  no  matter  what  one's  attitude  may  be,  there  is 
nothing  in  current  history  quite  so  absorbingly  interesting  as  the 
Socialist  movement.  If  one  believes  it  to  be  a  grand  thing,  it  is 
decidedly  interesting  for  that  reason.  On  the  other  hand,  if  one 
believes  it  to  be  a  sinister  thing,  it  is  also  decidedly  interesting 
for  that  reason. 


WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF  41 

There  is  no  other  phase  of  human  activity  which  presents 
such  a  picture  of  constant  effort  and  amazing  persistence  as 
this  movement. 

The  best  and  most  important  work  of  the  Socialist  party  is 
done  by  the  thousands  of  enthusiastic  men  and  women  all  over 
the  nation,  who  find  no  task  too  great  for  them  to  undertake 
for  the  beloved  cause.  They  are  heroes  and  heroines.  They  per- 
form prodigies. 

The  nation-wide  movement  is  a  kaleidoscopic  scene  of  busy 
effort.  The  volume  of  work  done  by  the  party  organization  has 
grown  constantly  and  enormously. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  the  work  of  the  National  Office  of 
the  Socialist  party  was  done  by  three  or  four  people.  Now  it 
takes  many  times  that  number  to  cope  with  the  work,  even  in  an 
"off  year."  The  truth  is  that  there  are  no  off  years  in  the  So- 
cialist party.  While  we  necessarily  must  have  the  offices,  we  are 
not  after  the  offices  simply.  We  are  in  the  field  to  establish  a 
great  principle.  Therefore,  when  other  parties  have  an  off  year, 
because  there  are  no  officials  to  elect,  we  are  up  and  at  it  as  usual. 

Tons  'upon  tons  of  leaflets,  books,  pamphlets  and  supplies  are 
shipped  out  to  all  parts  of  the  country,  to  be  put  to  good  use  by 
willing  workers.  Letters  are  written  by  the  thousands.  Circulars 
are  sent  out  by  the  tens  of  thousands.  Organizers  are  sent  out 
to, strengthen  the  weak  places  and  to  sow  the  seed  where  there 
has  been  no  crop  of  Socialists  as  yet. 

In  addition  to  its  main  work  as  the  political  expression  of 
the  working  class,  every  strike  finds  the  movement  lined  up  in 
favor  of  the  strikers.  In  the  political  work  the  movement  is 
always  on  the  firing  line  and  in  the  thick  of  the  battle.  And  in 
the  economic  work  it  furnishes  financial  and  moral  aid  for  those 
who  are  on  the  firing  line  and  in  the  thick  of  the  battle. 

We  propose  to  keep  up  the  fight  until  every  man  and  woman 
is  guaranteed  an  opportunity  to  earn  a  living,  and  to  receive  their 
full  earnings,  through  the  collective  ownership  and  control  of 
those  industries  which  are  now  used  by  their  private  owners  for 
the  purpose  of  gouging  others. 

CONSCIOUS  EVOLUTION 

Please  don't  understand  me  to  say  that  Alfred  Tennyson 
was  a  Socialist.  To  the  best  of  my  knowledge  he  was  not. 

Yet  we  Socialists  are  trying  to  put  one  of  his  sayings  into 
practice. 


42  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

We  are  accused  of  stirring  up  strife,  and  all  that,  but  in  fact 
we  are  the  harbingers  of  peace.  We  have  the  only  cure  for 
war.  And  we  are  the  only  people  in  the  whole  world  who  are 
trying  to  ward  off  a  bloody  struggle  between  the  classes. 

We  want .  to  put  into  practical  application  the  words  of 
Tennyson,  when  in  his  poem,  "Love  Thou  Thy  Land,"  he  says: 

"So  let  the  change  which  conies  be  free 
To  ingroove  itself  with  that  which  flies, 
And  work  a  joint  of  state,  that  plies 
Its  office,  moved  with  sympathy." 

To  show  how  difficult  it  is  to  put  this  advice  into  practice, 
he  proceeds  to  say: 

"A  saying  hard  to  shape  in  act; 
For  all  the  past  of  Time  reveals 
A  bridal  dawn  of  thunder  peals 
Wherever  Thought  hath  wedded  Fact." 

He  used  his  poetic  license.  He  says  that  all  social  changes 
have  been  accompanied  by  war. 

Not  all  of  them  have. 

But  most  of  the  great  ones  have. 

There  may  be  worse  things  than  war. 

But  war  is  a  great  scourge  and  a  great  brutalizer. 

We  Socialists  would  all  like  to  see  the  great  change  come 
without  bloodshed. 

Every  person  who  is  working  for  Socialism  is  working  for  a 
peaceful  transition. 

Every  person  who  is  working  against  Socialism,  or  merely 
holding  aloof,  is  helping  to  bring  on  a  reign  of  terror. 

The  Socialist  party  has  started  out  on  its  career  with  a  full 
knowledge  of  its  high  mission. 

The  time  has  come  in  the  history  of  the  world  for  conscious 
evolution  to  take  the  place  of  the  blind  development  of  the  past. 

We  Socialists  know  full  well  that  the  remorseless  economic 
laws — remorseless  and  at  the  same  time  capable  of  being  made 
grateful  and  beneficent — are  working  right  toward  Socialism. 

We  are  assisting  the  economic  laws. 

In  doing  this  we  stand  for  one  great  object  and  for  numer- 
ous minor  objects. 


WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF  43 

OUR  GREAT  OBJECT 

Our  great  object  is  this: 

We  propose  that  the  exploiting  industries  shall  be  collectively 
owned  and  controlled. 

The  present  private  ownership  of  these  industries  enables 
the  private  owners  to  get  for  themselves  most  of  the  earnings 
of  the  rest  of  the  people. 

Socialism  will  abolish  this  exploitation.  It  will  make  these 
industries  public  or  collective  property,  owned  by  all  the  people 
and  run  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  people. 

Then,  the  industries  being  no  longer  owned  by  capitalist 
parasites,  the  people  will  therefore  no  longer  be  gouged  out  of 
most  of  their  earnings,  but  will  receive  their  full  earnings  and 
enjoy  them. 

This  will  give  them  the  time,  the  means,  the  opportunity  and 
the  disposition  to  improve  themselves  physically,  mentally,  mor- 
ally and  spiritually. 

It  will  result  in  a  reign  of  genuine  happiness  on  the  earth, 
and  in  the  development  of  a  race  of  real  men  and  women,  big- 
minded,  big-hearted,  broad  and  wholesome. 

That  is  the  great  object  of  Socialism. 

We  are  always  working  for  that  great  object. 

It  is  our  ideal. 

It  is  our  inspiration. 

It  is  the  thing  that  causes  us  to  open  up  our  pocketbooks 
and  deprive  ourselves  of  the  necessaries  of  life  in  order  to  place 
the  printed  truth  before  the  eyes  of  our  non- Socialist  brothers 
and  sisters. 

It  is  the  thing  that  causes  us  to  spend  hours  and  days  and 
weeks  and  months  and  even  years  of  our  time,  without  pecuniary 
compensation,  in  arranging  meetings  and  distributing  literature, 
in  order  that  the  truth  may  penetrate  the  intellects  of  our  non- 
Socialist  fellow-men  and  women. 

To  every  genuine  Socialist,  everywhere,  this  great  object  is 
the  ideal,  inspiration  and  guiding  star. 

Ever  and  always,  our  eyes  are  on  that  goal. 

Ever  and  always,  in  spite  of  all  the  obstacles,  we  are  pa- 
tiently and  persistently  making  our  way  toward  that  goal. 

It  puts  beauty  in  our  lives. 

It  puts  the  pure  passion  of  the  dawn  in  our  hearts. 

It  puts  the  glory  of  the  sunlight  in  our  souls. 


44  WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF 

OUR    MINOR  OBJECTS 

While  patiently  and  persistently  making  our  way  toward 
this  great  goal,  we  avail  ourselves  of  every  opportunity  to  gain 
minor  objects  which  will  strengthen  us  in  the  fight  for  the  reali- 
zation of  our  ultimate  aim.  These  minor  objects  are  stated  in 
our  national  platform,  after  the  statement  of  our  great  object. 

We  stand  for  the  collective  ownership  and  democratic  man- 
agement of  railroads,  wire  and  wireless  telegraphs  and  tele- 
phones, express  services,  steamboat  lines,  and  all  Other  social 
means  of  transportation  and  communication,  and  of  all  large- 
scale  industries. 

We  stand  for  the  immediate  acquirement  by  the  municipali- 
ties, the  states,  or  the  federal  government  of  all  grain  elevators, 
stock  yards,  storage  warehouses,  and  other  distributing  agencies, 
in  order  to  reduce  the  present  extortionate  cost  of  living. 

We  stand  for  the  extension  of  the  public  domain  to  include 
mines,  quarries,  oil  wells,  forests  and  water  power. 

We  stand  for  the  further  conservation  and  development  of 
natural  resources  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  all  the  people;  by 
scientific  forestation  and  timber  protection;  by  the  reclamation 
of  arid  and  swamp  tracts ;  by  the  storage  of  flood  waters  and  the 
utilization  of  water  power ;  by  the  stoppage  of  the  present  extrav- 
agant waste  of  the  soil  and  of  the  products  of  mines  and  oil 
wells ;  and  by  the  development  of  highway  and  waterway  systems. 

We  stand  for  the  collective  ownership  of  land  wherever 
practicable,  and,  in  cases  where  such  ownership  is  impracticable, 
the  appropriation  by  taxation  of  the  annual  rental  yalue  of  all 
land  held  for  speculation  or  exploitation. 

We  stand  for  the  collective  ownership  and  democratic  man- 
agement of  the  banking  and  currency  system. 

We  stand  for  the  immediate  government  relief  of  the  unem- 
ployed by  the  extension  of  all  useful  public  works;  all  persons 
employed  on  such  works  to  be  engaged  directly  by  the  govern- 
ment under  a  work-day  of  not  more  than  eight  hours  and  at  not 
less  than  the  prevailing  union  wages;  the  government  also  to 
establish  employment  bureaus;  to  lend  money  to  states  and 
municipalities  without  interest  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on 
public  works,  and  to  take  such  other  measures  within  its  power 
as  will  lessen  the  widespread  misery  of  the  workers  caused  by 
the  misrule  of  the  capitalist  class. 

We  stand  for  the  conservation  of  human  resources,  par- 


WHERE   YOU    GET    OFF  45 

ticularly  of  the  lives  and  well-being  of  the  workers  and  their 
families;  by  shortening  the  workday  in  keeping  with  the  in- 
creased productiveness  of  machinery;  by  securing  to  every 
worker  a  rest  period  of  not  less  than  a  day  and  a  half  in  each 
week ;  by  securing  a  more  effective  inspection  of  workshops,  fac- 
tories and  mines;  by  forbidding  the  employment  of  children 
under  sixteen  years  of  age;  by  the  co-operative  organization  of 
the  industries  in  the  federal  penitentiaries  for  the  benefit  of  the 
convicts  and  their  dependents ;  by  forbidding  the  interstate  trans- 
portation of  the  products  of  child  labor,  of  convict  labor  and  of 
all  uninspected  factories  and  mines;  by  abolishing  the  profit  sys- 
tem in  government  work,  and  substituting  either  the  direct  hire 
of  labor  or  the  awarding  of  contracts  to  co-operative  groups 
of  workers ;  by  establishing  minimum  wage  scales ;  and  by  abol- 
ishing official  charity  and  substituting  a  non-contributory  system 
of  old  age  pensions,  a  general  system  of  insurance  by  the  state 
of  all  its  members  against  unemployment  and  invalidism  and  a 
system  of  compulsory  insurance  by  employers  of  their  workers, 
without  cost  to  the  latter,  against  industrial  diseases,  accidents 
and  death. 

We  stand  for  the  absolute  freedom  of  speech,  press  and 
assemblage. 

We  stand  for  the  adoption  of  a  graduated  income  tax,  the 
increase  of  the  rates  of  the  present  corporation  tax  and  the  ex- 
tension of  inheritance  taxes,  graduated  in  proportion  to  the  value 
of  the  estate  and  to  nearness  of  kin — the  proceeds  of  these  taxes 
to  be  employed  in  the  socialization  of  industry. 

We  stand  for  the  abolition  of  the  monopoly  ownership  of 
patents  and  the  substitution  of  collective  ownership,  with  direct 
rewards  to  inventors  by  premiums  or  royalties. 

We  stand  for  unrestricted  and  equal  suffrage  for  men  and 
women. 

We  stand  for  the  adoption  of  the  initiative,  referendum  and 
recall,  and  of  proportional  representation,  nationally  as  well  as 
locally. 

We  stand  for  the  abolition  of  the  Senate  and  of  the  veto 
power  of  the  president. 

We  stand  for  the  election  of  the  president  and  the  vice- 
president  by  direct  vote  of  the  people. 

We  stand  for  the  abolition  of  the  power  usurped  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  to  pass  upon  the  constitu- 


46  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

tionality  of  the  legislation  enacted  by  Congress ;  national  laws  to 
be  repealed  only  by  act  of  Congress  or  by  a  referendum  vote 
of  the  whole  people. 

We  stand  for  the  abolition  of  the  present  restrictions  upon 
the  amendment  of  the  constitution,  so  that  that  instrument  may 
be  made  amendable  by  a  majority  of  the  voters  in  the  country. 

We  stand  for  the  granting  of  the  right  of  suffrage  in  the 
District  of  Columbia,  with  representation  in  Congress,  and  a 
democratic  form  of  municipal  government  for  purely  local  affairs. 

We  stand  for  the  extension  of  democratic  government  to  all 
United  States  territory. 

We  stand  for  the  enactment  of  further  measures  for  general 
education,  and  particularly  for  vocational  education  in  useful 
pursuits,  the  bureau  of  education  to  be  made  a  department.  * 

We  stand  for  the  enactment  of  further  measures  for  the 
conservation  of  health;  the  creation  of  an  independent  bureau 
of  health,  with  such  restrictions  as  will  secure  full  liberty  to  all 
schools  of  practice. 

We  stood  for  the  separation  of  the  Bureau  of  Labor  from 
the  Depajtment  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  and  its  elevation 
to  the  rank  of  a  department.  This  has  been  done  since  our 
platform  was  written. 

We  stand  for  the  abolition  of  all  federal  district  courts  and 
the  United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals ;  state  courts  to  have 
jurisdiction  in  all  cases  arising  between  citizens  of  the  several 
states  and  foreign  corporations;  and  the  election  of  all  judges 
for  short  terms. 

We  stand  for  the  immediate  curbing  of  the  power  of  the 
courts  to  issue  injunctions. 

We  stand  for  the  free  administration  of  the  law. 

We  stand  for  the  calling  of  a  convention  for  the  revision 
of  the  constitution  of  the  United  States. 

METHODS  AND  RESULTS 

The  unique  methods  which  we  use  in  order  to  gain  our  ob- 
jects, and  the  wonderful  results  which  we  have  already  accom- 
plished in  various  countries,  including  our  own,  make  an  entranc- 
ing story. 

It  is  a  continued  story. 

It  is  told  from  day  to  day  and  from  week  to  week  in  the 
current  party  publications,  especially  those  issued  by  the  party 
organization. 


WHERE  YOU   GET   OFF  47 

I  shall  only  give  a  little  hint  of  it  here. 

The  Socialist  movement  is  world-wide.  It  is  organized  in 
every  civilized  country.  It  has  an  international  organization, 
with  headquarters  at  Brussels,  Belgium. 

The  Socialist  vote  increases  persistently  in  all  countries. 
Fortunately,  it  is  not  a  mushroom  growth.  On  the  contrary,  it 
is  steady  and  normal.  This  means  that  people  do  not  come  to 
us  until  they  are  convinced  that  we  are  right.  And  when  they 
come,  they  come  to  stay. 

In  1900,  the  Socialist  vote  of  the  United  States  was  96,931. 

In  1904,  it  was  408,230. 

In  1908,  it  was  424,488. 

In  1912,  it  was  906,840. 

In  1867,  the  Socialist  vote  of  Germany  was  30,000. 

In  1877,  it  was  493,000. 

In  1887,  it  was  763,000. 

In  1892,  it  was  1,876,000. 

In  1897,  it  was  2,107,000. 

In  1903,  it  was  3,010,000. 

In  1907,  it  was  3,251,000. 

In  1912,  it  was  4,238,919. 

The  other  civilized  countries  tell  a  similar  story. 

In  1870,  the  total  Socialist  vote  of  the  world  was,  in  round 
numbers,  30,000. 

In  1880,  it  was  494,000. 

In  1890,  it  was  1,600,000. 

In  1900,  it  was  4,600,000. 

In  1910,  it  was  10,000,000. 

And  it  is  still  growing  steadily  and  persistently. 

It  does  not  require  an  expert  mathematician  to  figure  out 
from  this  that  the  time  is  not  far  distant  when  the  Socialists  will 
capture  the  civilized  world. 

We  have  already  elected  over  six  hundred  members  of  the 
various  congresses  and  parliaments.  I  should  like  to  give  you  a 
list  of  them.  I  have  kept  a  list  for  years.  But  the  figures  in- 
crease so  often  that  they  would  be  incorrect  by  the  time  they 
were  set  up  in  type. 

We  have  also  elected  thousands  of  city,  county  and  other 
local  officials. 

Furthermore,  our  elected  officials  have  accomplished  won- 
ders. 

We  are  steadily  and  persistently  nearing  the  goal. 


48  WHERE   YOU    GET   OFF 

BE  UP  AND  STIRRING 

Here  is  my  last  word. 
Heed  it. 

Identify  yourself  with  this  great  timely  world  movement. 
Join  the  Socialist  party  organization. 

Make  your  life  worth  living  by  spending  your  spare  time 
working  for  the  great  cause. 
Be  up  and  stirring. 

Heed  the  eloquent  words  of  Charles  Mackay: 

"Men  of  thought — be  up  and  stirring  night  and  day ; 
Sow  the  seed — withdraw  the  curtain — clear  the  way! 
Men  of  action,  aid  and  cheer  them  as  ye  may! 

There's  a  fount  about  to  stream, 

There's  a  light  about  to  beam, 

There's  a  warmth  about  to  glow, 

There's  a  flower  about  to  blow, 
There's  a  midnight  blackness  changing  into  gray. 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  clear  the  way! 

"Once  the  welcome  light  has  broken,  who  shall  say 
What  the  unimagined  glories  of  the  day? 
What  the  evil  that  shall  perish  in  its  ray? 

Aid  it  dawning,  tongue  and  pen; 

Aid  it,  hope  of  honest  men ; 

Aid  it,  paper;  aid  it,  type; 

Aid  it,  for  the  hour  is  ripe, 
And  our  earnest  must  not  slacken  into  play. 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  clear  the  way! 

"Lo !  a  cloud's  about  to  vanish  from  the  day, 
And  a  brazen  wrong  to  crumble  into  clay. 
Lo!  the  right's  about  to  conquer;  clear  the  way! 

With  the  right  shall  many  more 

Enter  smiling  at  the  door; 

With  the  giant  wrong  shall  fall 

Many  others  great  and  small, 
That  for  ages  long  have  held  us  for  their  prey. 
Men  of  thought  and  men  of  action,  clear  the  way!" 


A     000  047  976 


THE   CENTER   OF   SOCIALIST   ACTIVITY   IN 

THE  UNITED  STATES  IS  THE  NATIONAL 

OFFICE  OF  THE  SOCIALIST  PARTY 


Departments 

Executive — Conducting  official  business,  and  sale 
of  dues  stamps. 

Literature — This  department  publishes  and  sells 
books,  pamphlets  and  leaflets,  aggregating  in  a  year's 
time  millions  of  copies.  A  large  descriptive  catalog 
of  books,  pamphlets  and  official  supplies  will  be  sent 
free  on  application.  Also  what  to  read  on  Socialism. 

The  Party  Builder — This  is  the  official  newspaper 
bulletin  of  the  party,  eight  pages  in  size,  published 
weekly,  50  cents  per  year,  sample  copy  free. 

Information — This  department  conducts  investi- 
gations, compiles  helpful  information  and  furnishes 
same  free,  covering  a  wide  latitude  of  subjects  ia  all 
fields  of  social  activity. 

Woman's — The  work  among  women  with  its  spe- 
cial propaganda  is  conducted  by  a  woman's  official 
secretary. 

Young  People — The  Young  People's  League  forms 
a  part  of  the  Socialist  organization  the  world  over. 
Its  work  in  this  country  is  handled  by  a  department 
in  the  National  Office. 

Translator-Secretaries — Ten  foreign  federations  are 
affiliated  with  the  party  and  have  translator-secretaries 
in  the  National  Office.  They  are  Finnish,  Bohemian, 
Jewish,  Polish,  Italian,  South  Slavic,  German,  Hun- 
garian, Slovak,  and  Scandinavian.  Literature  in  all  of 
these  languages  is  available. 

Inquiries  on  any  phase  of  Socialist  work  will  be 
cheerfully  answered  by  addressing  Socialist  Party, 
111  N.  Market  St.,  Chicago,  111. 


